The Kingdom without a Dragon Chapter 3.

Chapter Three.

Invitations.

          The first invitation arrived the very next morning. The Post Office was one of the few institutions which could find Minisculia, especially when it came to delivering bills.

"Simon, my dear, look. An invitation," cried an excited Queen Roberta.

"Oh how nice," said Simon, not really listening. He was reading the morning newspapers. There were further stories about the horrors taking place in Minisculia. This report claimed that the people there were having to live on boats in the river for safety. This rather puzzled him, as most people already lived on boats in the river, since there was so little land.

"It is from Queen Margaret. She wants us to go to a Ball tomorrow evening. Shall we go?"

"May as well, make the most of it while it lasts!" replied the gloomy king.

He handed over the newspapers which Roberta quickly scanned.

"Oh dear, what shall we do. They are sure to ask about the Dragon?" she wailed.

Simon sighed, "That is what is bothering me!"

The Butler entered the room with the breakfast tray. "Good morning Your Majesties. The postman has brought an unusually large number of letters today. I trust that some of them are the Invitations you wanted?"

"Ah, Butler, certainly there is at least one invitation," replied Simon, looking at the card Roberta was holding.

"But we do have one small worry about accepting it."

"Sire?" The butler sounded surprised. "I though the whole point of the exercise was to get invited to parities and things?"

"It was," replied Roberta. "But what do we say when people ask us about the Dragon and the damage and people disappearing and having to live on boats?"

The Butler smiled. "It is very simple, Your Majesties. Tell them the truth."

Roberta sniffed, "I don’t understand."

Simon was also puzzled. "I don’t understand either. If we tell them the truth then they will know it was all exaggeration and laugh at us."

"Will they? That all depends on how you go about telling the truth." explained the Butter patiently.

The monarchs still looked puzzled.

"We DO have a Dragon." said the Butler.

The couple nodded. "But!" protested Simon, "You cannot say he is the world's' fiercest creature. I mean, look at him."

Cedric was playing on with a ball of wool, for all the world like a large pink kitten.

The butler sighed. "If anyone asks you about the Dragon all you have to do is say that you prefer not to talk about him."

"Well, that is true enough," said Simon.

"And," went on the Butler. "The field behind the palace has been burnt by a Dragon. I gave him the matches myself and watched to make sure he came to no harm."

"I suppose so," agreed Simon. "So now explain these disappearances."

"Have you seen either Betty or Jane, the chambermaids recently?" asked the Butler.

"No, I was going to ask you about them," said the Queen.

"There you are then," said the butler in triumph. "Some people have disappeared. And before you mention it, people do live on the river in boats. All you need to do is tell the truth, shudder and say you had rather not talk about it."

The king and queen nodded.

The Ball was a huge success. Roberta and Simon were the stars of the evening. Everybody wanted to talk to them. Roberta had a wonderful time and accepted invitations to all sorts of Balls, Christenings, Weddings and parties. Simon found himself the centre of a group of rulers who wanted his opinion on every subject under the sun. It was a tremendous feeling.

As they drove home by the light of the moon, Roberta snuggled up to her husband and said sleepily, "The nice thing is that we don’t have to invite them back just yet. They won’t come until we have got rid of the Dragon and Cedric is far too nice to want to do that."