A Tall Tale

"RUN!"

her scream pierced the forest with the sharpness of her fear. Out of a thicket just behind them came the obvious source of that stark terror. It stood over 12 feet tall at the shoulder, and though its lumbering gate looked neither quick nor effective, it was apparent that this beast was obviously catching up to them, its scaly reptilian skin reflecting a shimmering array of colours with each beam of sunlight that penetrated the thick canopy of growth.

She thought back over her last week... wondered if she would ever see her home, her loving family... ever again.

Milla was just on her way back home from her weekly shopping trip down to Mulberville when she saw that first, odd plume of smoke in the sky. She noted with trepidation that the plume of smoke was making a beeline for Triddville, her home. She picked up speed. She ran.

She ran fast. In all of Triddington, or at least her hometown and the neighboring villages, there were few who could outpace Milla... she was faster than even most of the boys, though they would never have admitted as much.

But on this day, she was not fast enough.

She arrived home to a scene of chaos and destruction, the huge, serpentine shape spouting forth fire onto the building and it's large claws could be seen tearing apart others - the dim, screaming shapes of Tridds flying left and right as the great dragon kicked them here and there and everywhere...

These thoughts flew by in an instant as she ran for all she was worth, trying to evade the dragon in the woods... but he was catching up to them... inch by inch... hair by hair... She could sense the warmth of the dragon's breath on her shoulder, smell that rancid sulfur of his belly fires...

"TURN!!"

she shouted to her friend, Pavil, who had come along in hopes of helping talk the dragon into leaving their peaceful village alone... obviously to no avail. The road quickly approached... on the road waited their horses, who would approach no nearer than that, their keen sense of smell made it all but impossible to drag them more than one or two steps closer to the dragon's lair.
But they weren't quick enough.

Just as their feet started to hit some of the loose gravel at the edge of the road, the dragon managed to swing forth one of his mighty feet and connected with Pavil solidly. The dragon's kick sent Pavil flying through the woods, his screams slowly dying out as he flew away.

Milla turned once to look back and *WHAM* ran right into a Jewish Rabbi... she went spinning and fell down on the ground. The wyrm skidded to a halt in front of the Rabbi, who squeaked out a quiet little, "Oy vey!" as the dragon sidestepped him, reared back with his right foreclaw and punted Milla down the road, her anguished cry drowned out by the dragon's roar of rage.

The dragon then turned to look at the Rabbi, sized him up one side and down the other, noting the golden-clasped Torah clenched firmly in his grip, and turned to go back to his lair.

"Wait, mister dragon.... wait a second," the rabbi called out. "I do not understand. You chased these 2 poor Trids through the woods and gave them a great booting and yet you spared me. Why have you granted me such mercy?"

The dragon turned to him and stated, simply,
"Silly Rabbi. Kicks are for Trids"
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