The Dragon after His Winter Sleep
On a rainy day a scholar finds a glowing little creature scorching his book, bows to it in his ceremonial robes, and watches it fly off as a dragon.
A scholar was once reading in the upstairs room of his house on a gloomy, rainy, overcast day. Suddenly he noticed a tiny thing glowing like a firefly. It crept across the table, and wherever it went it left curving scorch marks, like the trail of an earthworm. Little by little it coiled itself around the scholar’s book, and the book turned black as well.
It struck the scholar that the creature might be a dragon. So he carried it outside on the book and stood there for quite a while, but the little thing lay stretched out and did not stir in the least.
“No one shall say I failed to show proper respect,” said the scholar. He took the book back inside and set it on the table. Then he dressed in his ceremonial robes, bowed deeply, and carried the dragon out on the book a second time.
The moment he stepped through the door, he saw the dragon lift its head and stretch. With a hiss it shot up from the book like a shining streak. It turned toward the scholar one last time, and by now its head was as big as a barrel and its body fully a fathom long. It gave one more snakelike twist, there was a terrible crash of thunder, and the dragon went sailing off through the sky.
The scholar went back inside to see where the little creature had come from. He could follow its trail this way and that, all the way to his chest of books.
About this story
This very short tale is from Richard Wilhelm’s The Chinese Fairy Book, in the 1921 English version by Frederick H. Martens published by Frederick A. Stokes, New York. Wilhelm’s note says it is also taken from the “Strange Stories.”
Wilhelm’s note describes a belief that the dragon, chief of all scaled creatures and insects, hibernates through the winter and is very small at that time. When the first spring storm arrives, it flies up to the clouds on the lightning, showing the dragon’s nature as a creature of the sky and weather.
Read the original: The Dragon After His Winter Sleep, from the Project Gutenberg edition
Best for ages 6–8 — a tiny, quiet wonder tale about good manners toward a sleepy dragon.
A small creature leaves large evidence
The dragon’s changing size overturns the scholar’s first impression, but the scorch marks keep the wonder connected to an ordinary room. He can follow a trail even after the creature has vanished. His ceremonial second attempt suggests respect, although the story never explains in the dragon’s own words why it waited.
Draw the scene twice: first at the book and then at the doorway. Keep the scholar the same size. What changes when the creature grows, and which marks would still let someone investigate afterward?
Talk about it
- What clues made the scholar think the glowing creature might be a dragon?
- Why do you think the dragon stayed still the first time but flew away the second time?
- How did the scholar find out where the dragon had been sleeping?
Related stories
- The Disowned Princess — a grand tale of dragon kings and a mighty red dragon
- Pearl From Beneath the Chin of a Black Dragon — a fisherman stumbles into a hidden dragon castle
- Fox-Fire — another short Wilhelm tale of a mysterious glowing creature
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the scholar find on his book?
How did the scholar treat the dragon?
Where had the dragon been sleeping?
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