Once long ago there was a boy who lived in a small village. He wanted to ride on a great big dragon which lived in a cave across the river. He made many traps to catch the dragon, but they did not work. The dragon was green and red, and it had long claws and big wings. It stayed in its cave in the daytime and flew in the sky at night.
One day the boy thought of a new plan to catch the dragon. He rowed his boat across the river and found a big rock to hide behind. He tied a rope around the big rock and he waited for the dragon to come out of its cave. In the evening the dragon came outside and drank water from a river. The boy came up quietly and threw his rope around the dragon’s long neck. The dragon roared and pulled away, but the rope was tied to the rock. Then the boy climbed onto the dragon’s back and tied another rope around its neck. He cut the other rope that was tied to the rock. The dragon shot up into the air. The boy held onto the rope as the dragon flew over the woods. It was scary but exciting!
The dragon swooped down and chased some sheep on the ground, but it did not hurt them. Later the dragon got tired, so it landed in the forest. The boy slid off and gave it some fish to eat. The dragon followed the boy to his village. The boy and his father built a great big cage for the dragon to sleep in. The boy wrote, “THIS IS SPARKY, MY PET DRAGON” on the left side of the cage.