Judy Herigstad

Dragon Legends

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. Some days the great beasts patrolled the vast skies above, sunlight glinting blindingly off their metallic scales as they soared effortlessly over the ridges of the surrounding mountain tops. Other days they drifted lazily in the rivers and streams that slashed through the Valley, knowing that not a single creature had the courage to confront them, even in their leisurely state. Today however, was a different day, a special day. While most days the dragons were seen in handfuls at a time, if they were seen at all, that was clearly not the case on this day. Today, the great muscled beasts appeared throughout the Valley incessantly. Diving from behind clouds only to land softly just in front of the tree line, looking around to see if anyone had noticed their dramatic appearance. Slowly revealing themselves from a perch they had long been occupying, as if by magic they had appeared out of thin air. Or emerging by other means from the depths of the earth or surrounding water in some over dramatic fashion as if to one-up their many other predecessors. No matter how elaborately they all appeared, each and every one of them waded in to the tree line, anxiously gathering in the Valley’s dense forest of ancient trees.