Elmer and the Dragon Page 3

  "So do I, and I think it's the coast of Popsicornia," yelled Elmer. "Yes, I'm sure it is. There's Firefly Lighthouse. It won't be long now. It's just a few miles up the coast from here."

  "Where shall I land when we get there?" asked the dragon. "Now that I'm free I should hate to be put in a zoo or a circus or something."

  "Well, it'll be dark soon. I think you could land on a wharf without attracting attention. Of course, we'll have to be quiet."

  They flew up the coast, passing the lighthouse and the Village of Fruitoria and the Town of Custard, and finally came to the outskirts of Nevergreen City.

  "There it is!" cried Elmer. "See, that dark patch is Evergreen Park. I live just across the street. Could you land on that long wharf just ahead?"

  "I think so," said the dragon, "but I do hope nobody sees me." He circled lower and lower and landed gently on the end of the wharf. Elmer slid off and whispered, "Gosh, it was fun knowing you. I'm going to miss you and flying and everything, and thanks so much for bringing me home."

  "It was fun, wasn't it," sniffled the dragon, "and I'll never forget how you came all the way to Wild Island just to rescue me. By the way, Elmer, I really think you ought to have this beautiful gold watch and chain. I can't see it on me, and anyway, I don't even know how to tell time."

  "Are you sure? I could give it to my mother. But haven't I got something you'd like to trade it for?"

  "Well, as a matter of fact, I was wondering if you still had some of those delicious pink lollipops."

  "I have four left over," said Elmer, getting them out and taking off the wrappers. "Would you like all four at once?"

  "Yes," said the dragon.

  They stood there quietly in the dark, the dragon sucking four pink lollipops, and Elmer whispered, "Where will you go from here?"

  "I'll go to find my family in the great high mountains of Blueland," said the dragon, thinking of his six sisters and seven brothers and his gigantic mother and father.

  "I'd like to go there too, someday," said Elmer.

  "Well, maybe you will, but listen—I hear voices." "Men coming down the wharf! Quick, you'd better hurry! Good-bye, dear Dragon."

  The dragon flew up into the darkness just as two watchmen thumped by to make their rounds. Elmer hid behind a crate and heard one say, "Funny, I was sure I heard voices, and I know I heard something big flying just over our heads."

  "Look! Four lollipop wrappers!" said the other watchman, who had been searching the wharf with a lantern.

  "Hmm," said the first watchman, and then they walked back down the wharf. Elmer followed them at a distance, and while they were telling another watch man about the lollipop wrappers he ran as fast as he could, through the streets, through Evergreen Park,

  all the way home. He leaped up the porch steps three at a time yelling, "Mother, Daddy, I'm home! Happy Birthday!"

  Mr. and Mrs. Elevator rushed to the door and threw their arms around Elmer. "Oh, Elmer, how glad we are to see you! You don't know how worried we've been these past two weeks. Where on earth did you go?"

  "I had an important job to do," said Elmer, staring at the living-room sofa. "Why, there's my friend the old alley cat!"

  "Yes," said Mrs. Elevator. "As much as I've always hated cats, I just didn't have the heart to turn her out. She came to the door the day after you left, and I kept thinking, 'Elmer loved this cat. I really ought to take good care of her.' And do you know, I've grown awfully fond of her in just two weeks."

  Elmer rushed over to the cat and whispered, "I rescued the dragon and he just flew me home. He was right where you told me he'd be."

  "You did what?" asked Mr. Elevator. "Oh, nothing," said Elmer. "By the way, here's your birthday present." Elmer gave his father the three bags of gold and played "Happy Birthday" on the sterling silver harmonica. "And here's a beautiful gold watch and chain for you, Mother."

  "But where did you ever get these things?" gasped Mr. and Mrs. Elevator.

  "That's a secret I can never tell," said Elmer, rummaging in the icebox for something to eat.

  THE END

  About the Author and the Illustrator

  RUTH STILES GANNETT wrote My Father's Dragon just a few years after her graduation from Vassar College in 1944. It was an immediate success, becoming a Newbery Honor Book, and was soon followed by two sequels, Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland. All three dragon stories have been continuously in print in the more than 40 years since their publication. The author's other books include Katie and the Sad Noise and The Wonderful House-Boat-Train. She is married to the artist and calligrapher Peter Kahn. They have seven daughters and seven grandchildren.

  RUTH CHRISMAN GANNETT was already a well- established illustrator when she began collaboration with her stepdaughter on My Fathers Dragon and its sequels. Her pictures for these books are perhaps her most enduring work. Her illustrations may also be seen in the first edition of John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat and in Miss Hickory by Carolyn S. Bailey. Mrs. Gannett was married to the late Lewis Gannett, daily book critic for the New York Herald Tribune. She died in 1979.

  ELMER AND THE DRAGON

  The author has produced a sequel to My Fathers Dragon that is the equal of that first gem in every respect. Flying back home from Wild Island, Elmer and the dragon are forced down in another land where dwell all the escaped canaries of the world.

  Rich, humorous, and thoroughly satisfying fare. . .Highlyrecommended."—Library Journal (starred review)

  "A fresh and original plot, delightfully logical nonsense, appealing characters and irrepressible humor." —The New York Times

  Read all three tales of My Father's Dragon,

  available from Random House

  MY FATHER'S DRAGON

  ELMER AND THE DRAGON

  THE DRAGONS OF BLUELAND