Definitely
NOT “Puff the Magic Dragon”
Engrossed in news of
the California wildfires, I mourned the loss of so much beauty in my childhood stomping
grounds.
Memories
flooded my mind and thinking about the fires, its causes, and its fierceness,
my imagination slid into overdrive … and into the fire … firedrakes that is … dragons!
FIREDRAKE (-drākʹ; Mythology) n. fire-breathing dragon.
I
drifted back to my youth, when reading books meant sitting outside, surrounded
by timeworn trees. California Black Oak, fir trees, and dense Manzanita brush
on the hills in front of me, concealed fairies and leprechauns, princes and
princesses, castles, dungeons, mermaids, all sorts of strange creatures from
active imaginations. Always with a happy ending.
Absorbed in the pages
of Grimms’ Fairy Tales with the maiden-eating dragon (“The Two Brothers,” 1812), and Lewis Carroll’s
nonsensical poem that gave us a fierce Jabberwock, with "jaws that
bite," "claws that catch," and "eyes of flame" (Through the Looking-Glass, 1871), my
heart raced as I envisioned dangerous denizens and dragons.
The
epic poem of Beowulf, who defeated the fire breathing dragon, appeared in my mind as I
watched a newsclip of streaming flames. Wildfires
are our modern day dragons and firefighters
are our brave warriors who slay them.
