The Truth About Dragons

I am a dragon of the name Zaiphora the One of Many Words and this story is written with the intent of illuminating humans with the truth about dragons.

Art by Simone Ford

Dear Reader,

Before I begin, I must make certain things clear. First, I am a dragon of the name Zaiphora the One of Many Words. Second, this story is written with the intent of illuminating only humans with the truth about dragons. And third, before you begin, I strongly urge you to forget everything you know about dragons. You humans are not familiar with the natural world around you so possibly, no, probably, everything you know is a lie and far from the truth.

Let me begin with a small introduction of myself. I am old, very old by human standards, and have been on this Earth since the beginning of time, when Order defeated Chaos and the universe, Earth, and dragons were born (among other things). For a human this may seem like a long time as most mortal humans have a life span of around 80 years but for dragons, us being immortal, time is of little relevance. I am a well-known author among all creatures of magical bearing, but among humans who decided to isolate themselves from the rest of the natural world, I am simply a dragon. This is my first story written for humans and, if it proves to be successful, I hope to write many more. My preferred past time is of course writing and knitting, while listening to the wonders of Merlei the Musical One, a dragon talented in music, much like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the humans. I love golden peaches and bright yellow, although it doesn’t go well with my periwinkle blue fur. I despise watermelon and birds, as they have a habit of getting in the way when one flies, and declaring war on other creatures of the sky, namely us dragons which can become a nuisance rapidly.

Finally, I despise ignorant creatures who don’t wish to change their ways and develop knowledge and of these creatures, I despise the ignorance of humans the most. Most, if not all, humans are ignorant to subjects that don’t involve them and this may not be their fault directly, but as humans are quickly expanding in numbers the world cannot continue when much of its population is blind. Because of this I, and many others, have decided to aid humans in their pursuit of knowledge and in my case I have written and published a story about dragons, one of the most ancient beings alongside elves and Jojibins, tiny bear like creatures who have infinite wisdom.

The Truth about Dragons

I have travelled far and wide, from the tops of the Mounts of Misery to the underground dwarf kingdoms in Doldoria. My most shocking discovery on my journey for knowledge was that of how humans depict dragons in their tales. We are pictured as fearsome fire breathing lizards who eat horrifying amounts of meat while sitting on vast lairs of gold and jewels. According to humans, dragons enjoy capturing fair maidens with royal blood and fighting knights in shining armor who dare enter our cave-like homes. In short, humans believe that dragons are evil, stupid and nothing more than beasts.

At first, I was furious that dragons had been portrayed in this dark light for centuries by humans. But as time passed by my anger diminished, until it was replaced by sadness and a keen sense of what was lost. The entire present-day race of humans are victims to the mistake of their ancestors, when long ago humans decided to cut themselves off from the world of magic and today are immersed in visions of technology and improved cities with no trace of nature nor magic. Humans don’t even believe in magic except for some of the younger humans. In human minds magic and anything related to magic doesn’t exist. And so, my vision of a brighter future for the humans starts with a book that tells the truth about dragons.

Now, the most important thing that humans get wrong is that dragons are carnivorous. No, we are vegetarian and proud to be so. In the tales of humans, we eat entire villages, from the farm animals to the farmer and his family. That is truly horrific! Most dragons are vegetarian, we love the gentle crunch of a spring carrot or the luscious flavor of a ripe orange. Of course, plants do not grow large enough naturally to satisfy most dragons, but we have our means. You see, long ago elves developed a spell that could shrink or grow objects and they were kind enough to share it with us dragon. From that day on a dragon simply must mutter the spell and enjoy a plentiful meal. As I said before most dragons are herbivorous unless of course a dragon has decided to become carnivorous, but those dragons are few and only eat the meat of deer, rabbit and such and never the meat of livestock or humans.

Another thing that humans have gotten wrong is the belief that dragons live in caves surrounded by gold, silver and jewels. Much like humans, and most creatures, each dragon is different and because of this, according to the Dragon Laws, all dragons must have a hoard. This means that all dragons collect items that they hold dear. For example, I myself, who loves knitting, has a hoard of 331 items made of wool or cotton. While one of my friends, Athal the One Who Watches the Stars, is an astronomer but is devoted only to the stars and has 233 telescopes to observe the stars. Perhaps this false tale of all dragons loving gold, which is not valuable in a dragon society, comes from a human who saw one dragon who had hoard of gold, like Goudar the Lonely One, who hates anything apart from his gold and his dark cave.

This brings me to a third lie about dragons and that is that we live in caves in the mountains. While it is true that many dragons prefer the mountains because of the view and the commodity when flying, many dragons, such as myself, live in other places. Some dragons live in forests and have homes in the trees, while others live in the desert and have hollow dunes as homes. Dragons live everywhere, from the bottom of the ocean to the highest peak in a mountain.

Not all dragons are lizard like creatures who can fly, because like humans we are born with differences which make us unique and special. There are some dragons who are furry while others are similar to dragonflies. Some dragons are like the dragons that humans believe in and other dragons cannot be described in any language other than Dragonish, the language of the dragons. I have lived on this Earth since the beginning and there are forms of dragons that I have never seen before. Because of this, there are laws that one must follow to qualify as a dragon. One must be able to fly, breathe fire, have four eyelids, speak Dragonish fluently, have a hoard, have four legs, be able to use magic, be immortal unless wounded and have a hobby.

Finally, I have realized that many human tales portray dragons as stupid and without culture. This is far from true. We are a distinguished race that has its own traditions, some that cannot be revealed to one who is not a dragon. Unlike most races we do not have many rules on how a dragon must live, we believe in uniqueness. However, one rule we have, which has never been broken, is that once a dragon is 100 years old, they are expected to have a professional hobby. This means that dragons are expected to find a passion that can support their lifestyles. Because of this we have dragons with many different abilities and our entire economy relies on the kindness of a dragon and trading. You see, I, for example, love writing and share books with others, however these books must be bartered with another item which I need. Another dragon might be a tree singer and have a profession of selling trees and tending to other dragon’s gardens for free or in exchange for something else.

And so, you see, dragons are far from the monstrous creatures who capture princesses (what would a dragon do with a human in a crown is beyond me) and I hope that you, dear Reader, have a better understanding of dragons and will help me spread the truth.

Yours Truly,

Zaiphora the One of Many Words