CHAPTER 1:The Coming of Snatchgrin
THERE
LIVED A GREAT DRAGON, fierce & bold.
Who spent all its days growing wealthy & old.
Whole cities would flee when the dragon swept in —
jaws smiling with plunder, they named it ‘Snatchgrin.’
Its
shadow made blood run ice cold.
At
its island home, the plunder was stored,
a dead volcano held the dragon’s hoard.
Jade crowns, gold swords, all manner of treasure,
and a harem of slaves to serve Snatchgrin’s pleasure.
Yet still the dragon grew bored.
The
dragon flew inches above the sea
snatching a meal from fish it could see.
Its meal complete, its belly full,
the dragon’s dessert was always a jewel,
a new toy for the old treasury.
Warriors brave & foolish tried
to kill Snatchgrin. And died.
Shivered by the dragon’s gaze,
defenders fell into a daze.
When Snatchgrin coughed on them, they fried.
The
cities built towers along the shore,
to scout the sea like a landscape in war.
The scouts turned tale & fled the beach
at even the sound of a seagull’s screech.
They dreaded to hear Snatchgrin’s roar.
‘Beware!
Be gone when Snatchgrin comes!
Light the warning fires, beat the drums!
Give up your gold & save your life, or
the dragon will snatch your husband, your wife.
Be gone when Snatchgrin bares his gums!
Beware when Snatchgrin comes!
Fields
lay fallow, roads unbuilt.
Undredged harbors filed with silt.
Cities practiced dragon drills (“Everyone! Into the hills!”)
Meanwhile, crops began to wilt.
In
all the kingdoms & all the clans,
in councils where they made war plans,
Snatchgrin’s name was heard instead
of taking off a neighbor’s head.
They met with empty hands.
THE
DRAGON COUNCIL FORMED. A FLEET
of
ships set sail on many dragon-hunting trips.
One day it found the dragon at its island home.
Snatchgrin’s mouth spit fire like foam.
The fleet burned while the dragon
hardly warmed its lips.
Ministers
in all directions flee’d
& and up & down the Seven Lands decreed:
‘We’ll grant one wish of any sort
for cutting the career of Snatchgrin short!’
No one paid them heed.
Then,
from the East, came one who said
that he would try the beast.
Yato-Ichi the Samurai. He had no sight in either eye.
Fought by sense, and well.
But ended up a dragon feast.
From
a southern country came
a man who’d learned the bees to tame.
Though the Bee Man’s swarming stings
swelled painfully the dragon’s wings,
He lost the dragon’s game.
Warriors,
Amazons, shamans, fools,
tried their hands & tried their tools.
Each fell like the one before.
It really was no dragon war.
The Coastlands lived by Snatchgrin’s rules.
‘Beware!
Be gone when Snatchgrin comes!
Light the warning fires, sound the drums!
Be gone when Snatchgrin bares his gums!
Beware when Snatchgrin comes!’