‘Quick march!’ she said to herself, ‘remember Joan of Arc,’ and walked right up to [p200 the dragon. It never moved, but watched her suspiciously out of its bright green eyes.
‘Dragon dear!’ she said in her clear little voice.
‘Eh?’ said the dragon, in tones of extreme astonishment.
‘Dragon dear,’ she repeated, ‘do you like sugar?’
‘Yes,’ said the dragon.
‘Well, I’ve brought you some. You won’t hurt me if I bring it to you?’
The dragon violently shook its vast head.
‘It’s not much,’ said Elsie, ‘but I saved it at tea-time. Four lumps. Two for each of my mugs of milk.’
She laid the sugar on the stone slab by the dragon’s paw.
It turned its head towards the sugar. The pinky sunset light fell on its face, and Elsie saw that it was weeping! Great fat tears as big as prize pears were coursing down its wrinkled cheeks.