CHAPTER 3: 'I Am Nam!'
THE PRINCE
OF THE ARCHERS SUMMONED HIS BOWS.
Three dozen or more soon lined up in rows.
He turned to the queen for the signal to fire,
who shouted as loud as the burly town crier:
“This danger decreases, not grows!”
For now she saw it was the child
who moments ago had run in so wild
and told the councilors it was he
who would from Snatchgrin set them free,
that despicable dragon, so reviled.
‘Beware! Be gone when Snatchgrin flies!
Keep an ear for the Dragonscouts’ cries.
He comes in the night, he comes in the day,
he plunders and thunders and kills on the way.
Whosoever opposes him dies!’
The beast approached within twenty paces
as all of the others held their places.
The monster stopped and held its ground.
There followed a quite amazing sound.
The boy was laughing in their faces.
“You may hurt it, but it won’t die,”
the boy said from his perch on high.
“With its thick hair and skin, it’s tougher than horn.
It’s stronger than just about anything born.
Go ahead, shoot it. Go ahead! Try!”
One of the archers took the cue.
He twanged! an arrow and off it flew.
It struck the beast and fell aside
as if it had not touched its hide.
Now this was something new.
“Stop
the shooting!” cried Jaffa al-Am.
To the boy he said:“Boy, I am
one of the Dragon Council. “Pray tell—who are you?
And what is it with this beast you do?”
The boy declared: “I am Nam!
I am known by other names—
Nam the Brave, Rider Nam,
Namagnificent, He Who Tames.
I am famous in certain places, in certain countries,
with certain races.
Who that does evil, Nam then shames!”
NAM, WHO LOOKED
LESS THAN 15 YEARS OLD,
said he’d heard the tales of Snatchgrin told.
“That dragon’s demise approaches fast,
your victor has arrived at last!
My weapon? Borstal Bold!”
He spread his arms out far & wide.
To indicate the beast’s vast hide.
The archers stared, then laughter broke.
It did seem like a mammoth joke.
Far greater weapons had been tried.
Nam stomped his feet, he waved his hands.
The laughter ceased at his demand
that he be heard, that they be told of
“dangerous, deadly Borstal Bold,
Lord of Beasts in all Seven Lands.”
Nam climbed down onto the ground
and found a stick after searching around.
He touched the stick to the beast’s great side—
it collapsed to the ground as if it had died.
It fell with a thundering sound.
He touched it again and the beast arose.
And then Nam touched the beast’s snake/nose.
The nose encircled the nearest tree
and up from the ground yanked it free!
“Now watch how far he throws...”
The tree shot off into the air
like a Cyclop’s bow had shot it there.
It dropped from sight on the other side
of the Cranberry Glade, about one mile wide.
Gaston the Gladekeeper wondered where.
“Now watch the power, see the might,
of Borstal Bold in a dragon fight!
First, imagine the dragon asleep.
Upon him Nam and Borstal creep,
a dragon’s doomsday come by night!”
The archers stood near a wagon of war,
loaded with shields, arrows, helmets & more.
Nam grazed the beast’s knees, its front legs arose.
Slowly it stood, the beast stood on its toes!
It inched toward the weaponry store.
Nam scurried along, stick held high,
as the Prince of the Archers issued a cry:
“Stop this monster or I’ll order it shot!”
Nam just grinned and said, “I think not.
Now watch the way Snatchgrin will die.”
The archers scattered as the beast drew near,
as much from the stink as well as their fear.
It collapsed like an oak tree felled by an axe,
smashing the weapons of a hundred attacks,
after Nam touched the stick to its rear.
Nam exploded in laughter, clapping his hands,
as the archers regrouped into two separate bands.
The first surrounded Borstal Bold,
the other put Nam into its hold.
Few sights were so strange in all Seven Lands.
The Prince of the Archers conferred with the kings
and the queens and the wizards with regency rings:
“This beast is a menace, give the order to shoot.
Then out of the land this Nam-child we’ll boot.
The weapons we’ve lost! Just look at those things...!”
The Council conferred and conferred and conferred...
Then Jaffa al-Am whistled loud to be heard:
“The Council agrees to hear the boy out.”
A scowling prince called off his troops with a shout.
To noone he muttered, “This Council’s absurd!”
A conclusion, cried Nam, “Socrates would find wise.
But first let me say this—Borstal arise!”
The monster rolled onto its back, then its side,
where it looked for a moment as if it had died.
At last the beast fluttered its eyes.
Then it flubbered & flopped like a fish on the beach,
as its snake of a nose ejected a screech.
Onto its feet at last the beast landed. At this point,
Nam jabbed it hard twice and demanded:
“Don’t ever forget what I teach!”
Nam turned to the Council,
which had witnessed this scene.
He smiled and shrugged:“Don’t think me too mean,”
he said as he tossed the stick into the trees.
"He’s lazy and likes to stay off of his knees.
He’d lie there all day, quite serene.”
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