“A nap in the middle of the ocean in the middle of a storm?”
“Why not? There’s nothing else to do.”
So Elmer lay down along the dragon’s back and they both were so tired that they fell asleep while the thunder boomed all around them.
“Elmer! Elmer! My stomach’s under water,” cried the dragon, suddenly waking up an hour later.
Elmer looked around. The storm was nearly over, but all he could see was drizzly rain and the water lapping against the dragon’s stomach. “Poor dragon, would you like a pink lollipop?” asked Elmer, deciding that this was a real emergency.
“I’d rather have a cup of hot milkweed milk, but I guess a lollipop would help,” said the dragon.
Elmer unpacked one for himself and one for the dragon, and then carefully crawled along the dragon’s neck until he could put the lollipop into his mouth.
“It does help a little,” shivered the dragon.
As they were sucking their pink lollipops in the middle of the ocean, the drizzly rain turned into thick, thick fog and then the water began to get shallower.
“My stomach’s out of water again,” announced the dragon cheerfully.
“I know why the water goes up and down!” exclaimed Elmer. “It’s the tide, and we’re on a sand bar near some land, and just as soon as the fog lifts we’ll be able to see what kind of land it is!”
“I hope it’s dry land,” said the dragon.
All night the water got shallower and shallower, and Elmer and the dragon were too excited to sleep. Finally, as the sun rose, even the dragon’s feet were out of water, and the fog began to rise.
Chapter Three
THE SAND BAR
The fog rolled along the sand bar and out over the water and suddenly Elmer shouted, “There, behind you! Look at the pretty little green island!”
“But Elmer, I can’t! I can’t move. Oh, Elmer, I hurt all over.” The dragon grunted and groaned and strained and struggled but he was too stiff to move at all. “Elmer, do you really see dry land, not far off?”
“Nice near dry green land, and the water’s shallow all the way. Are you sure you can’t move?”
“I’ll try again. How stupid! I can’t even see the land after waiting here for it all night long in the soaking wet water,” complained the dragon, glaring at the miles of ocean before him, which was all he could see.
Elmer walked around to the dragon’s head and pretended not to notice that he was crying.
“Elmer, I guess I’m not much of a dragon. A little storm comes along and forces me down, and I stand in a little water for a little while and it makes me so stiff that I can’t move a single muscle.”
“That’s not at all true,” said Elmer. “It was a big storm, and you stood in a lot of cold water for a very long time, and besides, you’re only a baby dragon and you’re not used to flying long distances. And just as soon as the sun dries you off, you’ll be unstiff again. Have another lollipop.”
“Thanks, Elmer.”
“But you’d better get unstiff pretty quick because the tide will come in and you’ll be up to your stomach in water again.”
“No, no,” whimpered the dragon.
“Well, I’ll hang on your neck and see if it will bend,” suggested Elmer. He jumped up and caught the dragon’s neck. He dangled for a moment and then both he and the neck thumped down on the sand.
“Ouch!” groaned Elmer and the dragon.
“Now, can you see the island between your legs?”
The dragon carefully curled his head under to look, and then he shouted, “I see it now, Elmer! It’s really there. What a lovely little dry island! Now help me limber up my right front leg.”
Elmer pulled very hard on the dragon’s right front leg until it would bend. Then he worked on the left back leg, and the left front leg, and the right back leg, and started all over again with the right front leg. At last the dragon could turn around and walk. By now it was hot, and steam rose up all along the dragon’s back as the sun beat down on his water-soaked wings.
Elmer started for the island and the dragon hobbled slowly behind. They went along the sand bar as far as they could and then waded into the shallow water. Elmer was still wearing his black rubber boots, but the dragon muttered, “I hate oceans!” as he splashed along stiff-leggedly.
Finally they came to the pebbly beach of the tiny island. Above them rose a cliff, and green vines hung over the edge, making a pool of shade. Elmer and the dragon sat down and ate fifteen tangerines, leaving forty-three more in the knapsack. “I wonder who lives on this island,” said Elmer, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “I think that’s a path over there. Come on, let’s go exploring.”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to rest a while longer,” said the dragon. “My wings are still wet and heavy, and I’m awfully hungry. Tangerine peels don’t really fill me up, and I’m terribly thirsty, and maybe I’m going to faint.”
“Then you rest here in the shade while I go to look for food and water,” said Elmer as he picked up his knapsack and went off to follow the little path.
Chapter Four
THE ISLAND
The path wound between boulders on the beach and then rose steeply through a crack in the cliff. Elmer scrambled up, bracing himself between the rock walls until he could find the next toehold. Just as he thought he could go no farther he found an old log ladder going straight up to the top of the cliff. “Somebody must live here,” he thought as he climbed up the last rung and sat down. All around him rose beautiful tall pine trees standing in rows, and he said, “Trees don’t grow in rows all by themselves. These pines were planted here by somebody a long time ago.”
Elmer ate four more tangerines, and then started through the pines to look for food and water. At last he came out onto a sloping meadow. He saw a brook winding its way down the slope and he ran to take a long cool drink.
“The dragon will be happy to see this,” he thought. “But I do wish I’d find somebody to tell us where we are and how to get home.” He followed the brook up the slope into an old, old apple orchard. Some of the trees had rotted down to stumps, but they had been planted in rows, too. Elmer didn’t see anybody anywhere, so he followed the brook back down the slope to a place where it made a pool of clear, cold water. He stooped down for another drink and found an old wooden bucket carved out of the trunk of a tree. “This bucket hasn’t been used for many years,” he thought as he scraped off the moss and weeds. “Maybe nobody lives here anymore.”
Elmer left the bucket beside the pool and followed the brook through ferns and bushes until it turned into a swamp. “Skunk cabbages and ostrich ferns all over the place!” yelled Elmer, who was worried about the hungry, thirsty baby dragon. He quickly pulled up six skunk cabbages and ran back through the bushes to the pool. He dipped the bucket half full, threw in the cabbages, and hurried through the meadow to the pines and the dragon.
He knew he couldn’t go down the ladder with the bucket, so he crawled to the edge of the cliff and peered through the vines. There was the wilted baby dragon, snoring in the shade.
“Dragon! Dragon! Wake up! I’ve got water and skunk cabbages for you!”
The dragon slowly opened one eye and looked up at Elmer. Then he quickly opened the other and said, “Where?”
“Right here in a bucket. But I can’t bring it down to you. You’ll have to let me pour the water down your throat. Ready?”
“Ready,” said the dragon, tipping back his head.
Elmer aimed and poured and the dragon drank. Then Elmer threw down the cabbages one by one, and the dragon caught each cabbage in the air, laughing and crying at the same time because he was so happy and hungry and thirsty.
“That’s all,” said Elmer, “but there’s lots more up on the island, and ostrich ferns, too. Can you fly up now?”
“Ostrich ferns! I’d better be able to fly,” said the dragon, stiffly flapping his gold-colored wings. He hobbled along the beach, gave a little jump, and fluttered up to
the top of the cliff. “I’m not the dragon I used to be,” he panted, “but I’ll get you home yet, Elmer. Don’t you worry about that.”
“Oh, I know you will. I’m not the least bit worried,” said Elmer, although he had secretly hoped to find people on the island, and a boat going home, and all sorts of good things to eat.
Chapter Five
FLUTE, THE CANARY
Elmer and the dragon rested awhile on top of the cliff, watching the waves spreading out over the sand bar. Suddenly a little voice chirped, “You’re Elmer Elevator, aren’t you?”
Elmer was too startled to answer.
“Aren’t you? Of course, it has been three years, and people do change.”
Elmer looked all around but he couldn’t see anybody. “Yes, I’m Elmer, but who and where are you?” he asked.
“Look up in the tree above you. It’s me, Flute.”
Elmer and the dragon looked up and there he was, Flute the canary—funny little Flute with two black eyebrows and one black feather in each wing.
“Oh, Flute! How glad I am to see you. But how did you get here?”
“I flew here the day you let me out of my cage when your mother went to answer the doorbell. This is where all the escaped canaries live—Feather Island, we call it. But what on earth are you doing here?”
“Well, I just rescued this baby dragon, and he was flying me home, only we got caught in a storm and landed here instead. And now he’s got to rest and get plenty of food and water before we can go on.”
“Does he eat canaries?”
“I should say not,” snorted the dragon. “Only fruits and vegetables and lollipops.”
“That’s a relief,” said Flute. “I almost didn’t talk to you because the rest of the canaries were afraid. I’ll just tell them everything’s all right,” and Flute trilled loudly in every direction. Soon canaries were chirping all over the island, and the pine trees rustled with fluttering wings.
“Let’s go eat,” said the dragon, who was bored and still hungry and thirsty. So Flute flew down and rode on Elmer’s shoulder as they walked through the pines.
“Tell me, Flute, do people live on this island?” asked Elmer.
“No. Just canaries.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, how have you been getting along without my mother? She’s never stopped worrying about you.”
“Quite well, thank you,” said Flute, “but I’m beginning to suffer from the island disease.”
“What’s that?”
“I know it sounds silly, but the whole island is sick with curiosity, and old King Can is actually dying of it.”
“Who’s King Can?” asked the dragon, becoming somewhat interested.
“He’s the king of the canaries. He’s really King Can XI. His ancestors, King and Queen Can I, were the first canaries to live on the island. They came with a party of settlers. But the settlers sailed away after a month or two, and they left King Can and his wife behind.”
“Now I understand about the ladder and the bucket and pine trees and the apple orchard,” said Elmer.
“Yes,” said Flute, “they are the work of the settlers. But to continue: Migrating birds often stop by here and King Can, being lonesome, told them to ask escaped canaries to live on his island. But even after many canaries had come, he was never well or happy. And when the other birds asked ‘Why not?’ King Can would answer, ‘I’m dying of curiosity.’ Pretty soon, the other canaries grew curious to know why he was so curious, but he told the reason only to his eldest son. And so they all grew sick with curiosity. Finally, when King Can I was a very old canary, he did die of curiosity and his eldest son became King Can II.”
“Skunk cabbage! I smell skunk cabbage,” interrupted the dragon right in the middle of the story, because by this time they had come out onto the meadow.
“It’s right over there in the swamp,” said Elmer, and the dragon lumbered off to eat and to drink cold water.
“King Can II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X all died of curiosity as very old canaries, and now King Can XI is sick with it. And the rest of us are sick, too. I tell you, it’s an awful thing,” continued Flute.
“I suppose so,” said Elmer. “I wonder what they could have been so curious about.”
“See, there you go getting curious! What a great day it will be when this island gets over the plague of curiosity!”
“Maybe I could help King Can XI,” suggested Elmer. “If he weren’t curious anymore, then nobody else would be curious to know why he’s curious, and everybody would get well.”
“That’s right,” said Flute. “Let’s go see the King. He lives in the biggest tree in the forest.”
Elmer yelled to the dragon that he’d be back soon, but all he could hear was loud munching and drinking noises in the bushes.
Chapter Six
KING CAN XI
Flute perched on Elmer’s shoulder and together they went to the biggest tree in the forest. Flute flew up into the branches and Elmer heard him chirp, “Good morning, Queen Can. An old friend of mine has just arrived on the island, and I’d like to introduce him to the King.”
“Is that your friend down there?” asked the sleek tiny Queen suspiciously.
“Yes. He let me out of my cage back in Nevergreen City.”
“The King isn’t feeling well, you know.”
“I know, that’s why I want to introduce my friend. I think he can help the King, perhaps.”
“Well, I’ll go see if he’s receiving visitors. You wait here.”
Soon the Queen flew back all flustered. “The King will be down right away. I was really surprised. He’s never before been so eager to see anyone!”
Elmer felt flattered, and quickly tucked in his shirt and straightened his cap.
Suddenly the King flew out of the branches and landed at Elmer’s feet. Elmer was disappointed. The King looked just like a canary, only bigger and fluffier than the others.
“This is my dear friend Elmer Elevator,” said Flute.
“Hello. Won’t you sit down?” said King Can XI.
“Thank you,” said Elmer, squatting down on the pine needles.
“It’s a great honor to have you on our island,” said the King.
“It’s a great honor to be here,” said Elmer.
“The Queen said that Flute said that you might be able to help me. Is that right?” asked the King.
“Yes,” said Elmer. “I thought perhaps I could help you to find out whatever you’re so curious to know, and then all the other birds wouldn’t be curious to know why you’re curious, and everybody would get well.”
“Hmm,” said the King. “Did you have some special plan?”
“You’d have to help by telling me what’s bothering you,” said Elmer.
“That’s what I was afraid of! Why, this has been a family secret ever since my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was a young canary. No, I couldn’t possibly tell you!” snorted King Can XI.
“Then I can’t help you after all,” said Elmer, getting up. “I’m sorry I bothered Your Majesty about it. Good-bye.”
Elmer and Flute sadly started back through the pines.
“Ah, just a moment,” called the King. “Maybe we could work out something. I’m awfully tired of being curious. Yes, by gosh, I believe I will tell you. But don’t you dare tell anyone else!”
“I promise,” said Elmer.
“Flute, go up and chatter with the Queen. Your friend and I wish to be alone.”
The King whispered to Elmer, “You can’t imagine how hard it is for me to tell you our family secret.”
“I’m sure it’s extremely difficult,” said Elmer helpfully.
“Well, the secret is—the secret is—the secret is—oh, I can’t tell you now. Could you come back at sundown? I just can’t say it in the bright sunlight.”
“I understand,” said Elmer, “and I’ll be glad to come back later.” He called to Flute, who had been trying hard n
ot to yawn in front of the Queen, and together they went to find the dragon.
“Well, did you see the King?” asked the dragon, who was resting comfortably beside the pool, his stomach bulging with skunk cabbages and ostrich ferns.
“Yes, but now I’m really curious. I’m to go back at sundown and then he’s going to tell me the secret. It’s a very old family secret.”
“I just can’t stand it! I can’t stand it!” said Flute. “Oh, I’ll be so glad to be rid of the curiosity plague.”
“I’ll do my best,” said Elmer, taking a long drink of water and settling down beside the dragon to eat eight tangerines.
Elmer and the dragon fell fast asleep while Flute went all over the island spreading the news and waiting for sundown.
Chapter Seven
THE SECRET
“Wake up! Wake up! It’s time to see the King!” chirped Flute as the red sun settled over the meadow. Elmer opened his eyes and forgot for a moment where he was. Then he jumped up and put on his knapsack.
“I want to come, too,” yawned the dragon.
“You weren’t invited,” said Flute.
“Neither were you, Flute, come to think of it,” said Elmer.
“Let’s all go and see what happens,” suggested the dragon. So off they went to see the King. He was waiting for them at the foot of the very tall tree, nervously hopping from one foot to the other, pecking at imaginary mosquitoes.
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the dragon.
“That’s my good friend the baby dragon. I rescued him two days ago and now he’s taking me home.”
“I don’t like him,” said the King, feeling small and helpless.
“Oh, yes you do!” said Flute.
“Quiet, Flute! I guess I know what I like and what I don’t!”
The dragon drooped his head and began to back away.