THE PUDDLE PIXIES - CHAPTER 11 - FIZZLE THE PIXIE DRAGON

One day, Puddle Pixie Natalie looked out of her window which overlooked the Fairpuddle. She saw a strange shape moving through the water. At first she thought it was Wilfred the Pixie Whale who occasionally came to visit his pixie friends; but as she looked closer she saw there were two large humps sticking out of the water – it did not look like Wilfred at all!

Natalie quickly put on her mac and wellies and ran down to the bank. To her surprise, an enormous spiky orange head appeared from the dark water, followed by a huge body which looked like a very well-fed snake. Two large webbed feet flopped on to the bank, followed by a long thick tail, its end shaped like an arrowhead. Natalie was so astonished at this strange sight, that she quite forgot to be scared, and stood and watched open-mouthed as the fantastic creature began to shake itself dry, opening a huge pair of leathery wings as it did so.

The dragon – for that is what it was – looked as surprised as Natalie felt, and certainly more scared of her than she was of him! They each stepped back a few paces and looked at the other curiously. Natalie decided that the dragon did not look very fierce at all, just rather sad and bedraggled. She stepped forward bravely, and said: ‘Hello dragon. My name is Natalie Puddle Pixie. I live over there. And she pointed to her house. ‘What is your name, and where do you come from?’

The dragon sighed deeply, which made a cloud of white steam puff out of his nostrils. He said : ‘Come and sit by me, and I will tell you my story’. Pixie and dragon sat down side by side on some large boulders on the muddy bank. The dragon began :

‘My name is Fizzle. They called me that because my fire just fizzled out. I come from a very faraway land to which most of the dragons in the world were banished by the Lord Merlin many many years ago, when he was making this kingdom safe for pixies to live in’. He wiped away a little tear with a swish of his tail, and continued: ‘But I was not happy in New Dragonland, for I am not like other dragons, and the others all laughed at me. Natalie patted his hand sympathetically, and gave him a tissue to blow his great nose on.

He continued : ‘You see, dragons are supposed to be scary creatures who breathe out smoke and fire, but this is all I can manage’ and he opened his great mouth, took a deep breath, and out of his mouth and nose came – a large cloud of white steam!‘And on top of that’ he went on sadly ‘I am not very fierce, nor very scary either! I don’t like folk being afraid of me, and I am a bit scared of fire myself. I prefer to spend my time swimming with my friends – that’s if I had any’.

He hung his head, sighed an enormous sigh, and another large teardrop splashed on to the earthy bank, making a little puddle next to the big one. Natalie was very sad to hear all this, and she put her arm round him and patted his shoulder. She said : ‘Well, Fizzle, I am your friend now’ and they sat quietly together for a moment, gazing into the puddle, both thinking their own thoughts..Slowly a smile spread across the Pixie’s face. ‘Wait here, don’t move’ she said, and ran across to the puddalo boathouse.

A few minutes later, she emerged in the company of an older pixie wearing a smart cap with ‘PUDDLEMASTER’ edmbroidered on it. They were deep in conversation. They walked over to where Fizzle was still sitting, and the Puddlemaster held out his hand for the dragon to shake. He said: ‘I am the Puddlemaster, and I am very pleased to meet you. Natalie has told me all about you, and we have a suggestion to make. Although I am at the Puddalo boathouse most of the day, there is no-one here during the night, and recently some naughty pixies have been breaking in and doing damage, sometimes even setting the puddaloes free from their moorings. So this is my proposition. You could sleep in the shed behind the boathouse and try to look fierce if anyone comes in who shouldn’t be there during the night. You can swim in the Puddle as much as you want, and there will be plenty for you to eat. I will tell all the other Puddle Pixies about you, and I am sure you will soon have lots of friends. Do we have a deal?’

Fizzle had never felt happier. With a huge grin on his face, he shook hands with the
Puddlemaster to seal the bargain, and Natalie ran off to tell everyone about the new Puddle Guardian. And so for the next few days, all was quiet on the Fairpuddle, and Fizzle was happier than he had ever imagined possible, spending happy hours swimming and chatting to his new friends.

One clear night, however, as he slept quietly in the shed, he was woken by the sound of pixie voices. Creeping as quietly as it was possible for such a large creature to do, he peered through the door of the Pixie Puddlemaster’s office, and saw three little pixies having a look at the things on the desk. Throwing the door wide, Fizzle thrust his huge head into the room, and roared a great ROARRR, as fiercely as he could manage.

The startled pixies leaped to their feet, knocking the lighted oil lamp over in their panic. Soon the office was full of smoke and fire as the oil spilled out and ran along the table, making a little river of fire as it went, burning all the scattered papers in its wake. Fizzle looked on in horror, for he was of course scared of fire. But the pixies were now trapped – what to do?

Spreading his magnificent wings, he rose quick and straight as an arrow into the air and swooped down on to the puddle. He plunged into the water and soared up again, causing a huge fountain as he broke the surface of the puddle. Making a low pass over the burning boathouse, he huffed and puffed as hard as he could, shooting out of his mouth and nose all the water he had swallowed, until the fire was completely extinguished.

Hearing the commotion, all the Puddle Pixies had come out to see what was going on, and they all clapped and cheered as Fizzle led out the three naughty pixies, who looked shamefaced and scared and were soaking wet and covered in soot. Charlene the Paramedic Pixie checked them over, and pronounced that, apart from needing a good wash, they were all fit enough to return home. After Puddle Pixie Police Officer Tommy had given them a good talking-to, Charlene gave them all a lift home in her ambulance, where their worried parents also gave them a thorough telling-off, as well as a big hug of relief that they were safe.

The other Puddle Pixies all crowded around Fizzle, the hero of the hour. They brought him gifts of the finest Pixie fruit and his favourite foods, and gave him soft rainbow blankets so he would not catch cold after his adventures.

Next day, the Pixie Workmen, accompanied by the naughty pixies who had caused the trouble and were now anxious to help to try and make up for their misdeeds, arrived to repair the boathouse, and soon all was back to normal.

One morning soon after, a delegation of Puddle Pixies arrived at Fizzle’s shed. The Puddle Pixie Elder, looking important in his silver chain of office, stepped forward to shake Fizzle’s hand. He hung a beautiful gold medal on a red satin ribbon around the dragon’s neck, and made a speech, saying how brave he had been and how everyone was very grateful to him not only for saving the boathouse and the puddaloes, but also for saving the naughty pixies, with no thought for his own safety. ‘Furthermore’
said the elder ‘The pixies you saved have now been put to work building you a new shed of your very own near the Fairpuddle, so you can live here with us for ever and ever. And if you will agree, we would like to offer you the job and title of ‘Puddle Pixie Firefighter Dragon’. Will you accept the position?’

Fizzles’ cheeks flushed red, and he shyly nodded his head.‘I will be very happy to be your Firefighter Dragon, and live here with you all. I have never had such good friends’. he said. Then the Elder opened a large box held by the Pixies Fizzle had saved, took out a splendid black helmet with shiny golden fittings, and placed it on the dragon’s head.

Everyone clapped and cheered, fireworks were lit (Fizzle in his new position as Firefighter Dragon made sure they were well away from everything) and pixies brought out baskets of food and sweets for everyone to enjoy a celebration party at the edge of the Fairpuddle.

Fizzle the Firefighter Dragon settled down to enjoy his new life and soon became a much loved and respected member of the Puddle Pixie Community.

As for the naughty pixies, they had learned their lesson. In time they became the first members of the Fairpuddle Firefighting Force, with Fizzle as the Fire Chief, and stayed firm friends with him for evermore.