The Littlest Dragon. Margaret Ryan

      

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      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

The Littlest Dragon

       The Littlest Dragon and the Special Game of Football

       Keep Reading

       Also by the Author

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

The Littlest Dragon

      It was deep dark night-time.

      In the dragons’ cave, ten dragons lay in the big dragons’ bed. Nine of the dragons were snoring, but the littlest one, Number Ten, wasn’t. He lay on his side with his nose jammed up against the cave wall.

      He couldn’t sleep because he was getting squashed.

      “Move over, Number One,” he shouted to his biggest dragon brother on the other side of the bed.

      “Snnnnnorrrrre, snnnnorrrre, snnnnorrrrk,” said Number One.

      “Shove along a bit, Five and Six,” he called to his middle-sized brothers who were twins.

      “Eeeeee wheeeee whistle,” said Numbers Five and Six.

      “You’ve got your right elbow in my ear,” he said to Number Nine, who was asleep beside him.

      “Three blind mice,” said Number Nine, who always chanted nursery rhymes in his sleep.

      “This won’t do at all,” said the littlest dragon. “I’ll never get to sleep at this rate.”

      He wriggled as best he could, and squiggled as best he could. But it was no use.

      He was sandwiched between the cave wall and his sleeping brothers.

      Then, he had his first idea.

      “Breakfast time, boys,” he called in a high voice, very like his mum’s.

      The big bed shook as nine dragons leapt out of it and headed for the door, shouting . . .

      “Oh goody, I’m starving . . .”

      “I want toast soldiers . . .”

      “I could eat two basins of porridge . . .”

      “Me too . . .”

      “Let go of my tail . . .”

      “I was first.”

      The littlest dragon gave a smile and a sigh and snuggled down in the big warm bed.

      At last he had the bed to himself.

      But not for long. Soon the other nine dragons were back.

      “It’s not breakfast time at all,” said Number Eight.

      “It’s the middle of the night,” said Number Four.

      “We were sure we heard Mum’s voice calling us,” said Numbers Five and Six.

      “Zzzzzzzzz,” said the littlest dragon. But that soon changed to “Owwwwwww,” as all the other dragons piled back into the big bed and squashed his nose back up against the wall.

      The littlest dragon rubbed his nose and had a serious think. After a few moments, he had his second idea.

      He waited till the other dragons were fast asleep and he could count all the different snores.

      “Snnnnnorrrrre, snnnnorrrre, snnnnorrrrk,” went Number One.

      “Snnnnnuffffle, snnnnnnuffffle, snniffff,” went Number Two.

      “Urrk, urrk, oink,” went Number Three.

      “Burrrrble, burrrrble, boink,” went Number Four.