But there’s no such thing as a Dragon…

Dragons aren’t real, right? Of course, we know that, don’t we?

Today let’s take a look at a story, told to 4-year-olds.

This story is taken from a storybook, authored by Jack Kent, published in 1975. If you prefer watching the video for the narration of the story, you can watch it in the video below. But if you are the one who prefers reading over a video, followed by the video is the conversation for you.

That day Billy got up surprised as he found a kitten-sized dragon in his room. The dragon wagged its tail when Billy patted his head. Billy went downstairs to tell his mother. “There’s no such thing as a dragon!” said Billy’s mother.

Billy went back to his room. The dragon came close to Billy in a friendly manner and wagged its tail. But Billy didn’t pat him this time. If there was no such thing as a dragon, then it’s also silly to pat it on the head.

Meanwhile, mother had prepared pancakes for Billy. As Billy went to have his breakfast, the dragon who was the size of a dog by now, went along with him. Billy sat at the table; the dragon sat ON the table. This was not allowed but nothing could mother do, as she had already said “There was no such thing as a dragon…”.

Mother made pancakes for Billy, but the dragon ate them all. The pancake batter ran out and Billy could eat only one. He said, “that’s all he wanted anyways…”

Later, mother started cleaning the house. It was a difficult task as the dragon had grown so much that he occupied the entire hall. She had to climb in and out from room to room to get around the house. Billy had to get around to the living room, to get to where his mom was. “I didn’t know dragons grew so fast!” said Billy. “There was no such thing as a dragon!” said mother.

By noon, the dragon filled the house, its head hung out of the front door and tail out of the backdoor. The dragon saw a bakery truck passing by. Tempted by the smell of fresh bread, he ran after the bakery truck and the house went along like a shell on a snail.

When his father came home for lunch, he noticed that his home was gone. He went searching and finally saw one identical house, with his wife and Billy waving from the upstairs window. Father climbed over the dragon’s head onto the roof and through the upstairs window.

“How did this happen?” he asked.

“It was the dragon,” said Billy.

“There was no such thing as a dragon!”, exclaimed mother.

“There is a dragon, a very big dragon!”, Billy insisted and he patted the dragon on his head.

The dragon wagged its tail happily. Then even faster than it had grown, the dragon started getting smaller. Soon it was kitten-size again. “I don’t mind dragons this size,” said Mom, “Why did it have to grow so big?” Billy replied, “I am not so sure. But maybe it just wanted to be noticed.”

My analysis

The story speaks volumes and is a revelation. For the kids, it’s a fantasy and for adults? Well in my opinion there is a strong message embedded in it.

We all have such dragons in our houses, in our minds, don’t we? Those massive problems that you already possess, which you have assumed a part of your identity by now. The dragon is exactly the thing that sends a chill down your spine after you read this and so much so that even thinking about it makes you turn away from even acknowledging it.

But was that dragon always as big as it is now? Somewhere, sometime down the years, the dragon (or the problem) was kitten-sized and could have stayed the same or even shrunk further, had we acknowledged (patted) it. That’s the first step in countering any problem, massive or tiny.

That bungled up, messy state you find in yourself, be it in terms of your relationships or a slogging semester or a job which you don’t like at all but still continue to suffer along, are all grown-up dragons by now. Saying “There is no such thing as a dragon…” seemed to solve the problem (only in your minds) but what it only did, was allowed the dragon to grow bigger.

And when dragons grow big, as in the story, (the author is beautifully subtle at places) it starts taking away your time, your space and makes you run along. It also interferes with the people around you. They often need to get around the dragon to get to you.

Once the dragon grows so huge that it can run your home along, i.e. the very identity of you and your place of safe heaven can snap out of control. And like Billy’s father, one day you return home to find that home of yours gone.

But then what’s the deal now? Especially with the huge problems running you around? That’s the tragic end and nothing can be done about it? NO!

In my opinion, if you are breathing, the dragons a.k.a problems will continue to spawn. But keeping them to kitten size could be a good aim! And as the story concludes, even the big problems have the ability to shrink.

The small action that is aimed towards this big monster, is a step that can shrink it proportionately!

The small conversation, even if it barely scratches the actual problem, that you can have, can be a leap towards solving a major relationship issue. There can be progress made in a project or a subject that seems like a pandora’s box, by understanding the smallest concept you can today.

Learning the smallest skill today to file your taxes, to invest your earnings or to develop a skill that you kept promising yourself forever!

There are countless areas of life where this is applicable. But as the old saying goes, ‘The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is one.’

Go ahead, look into the eyes of your dragons and pat them. It’s not easy, that’s the reason why you avoided them in the first place. Only then you can make the small move, but hey! It’s some movement at least! That means you are no longer stuck!

P.S. : Dr Jordan Peterson, a Canadian clinical psychologist goes into greater insights on this very story in his video below. Those interested can take a look and honestly my writing here could be a little influenced by it. 🙂