The Fiery Sneeze<\/u><\/p>\n
\u00a9Lynne North 2015<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2018Go on, then!\u2019 the villagers encouraged, pushing Ned forwards. \u2018Go ON.\u2019<\/p>\n
With no choice in the matter, Ned shuddered, but did as he was told and edged forwards to the gaping mouth of the cave.<\/p>\n
\u2018C…C…Cedric?\u2019 he all but whispered. There was no reply. \u2018He\u2019s not in,\u2019 Ned told the villagers, still using a very quiet voice.<\/p>\n
\u2018Call him properly!\u2019 yelled Tom, the blacksmith.<\/p>\n
Ned heard movement from inside the cave, a heavy slithering sound. He turned to make sure he still had the support of his friends. Clearly he didn\u2019t. Tom the strongest man in the village threw himself to the ground to hide behind some rocks, and the rest of the group soon followed. Ned swallowed hard. Before long all that was visible apart from him standing out in the open was a pile of boulders with the odd arm, hand, foot, part of a leg or top of a head sticking out from behind them. Ned began to shake, staring anxiously at the space where his friends had stood a few minutes before. He then stared back at the black hole from which echoed the thump of heavy steps getting ever closer.<\/p>\n
Ned considered running, then heard the rumbling deep voice from within the cave.<\/p>\n
\u2018Hello? Is someone there? Who is it? Ah, ahhhhh…\u2019<\/p>\n
Ned flattened himself to the ground, his hands covering the back of his head, just in time as the huge, bellowing \u2018choooooooooooooo\u2019 rang through the opening with a ball of flames that narrowly missed him.<\/p>\n
Ned lifted his head slightly and saw the huge, scaly head appear through the flowers bordering the cave. The fearsome dragon stared down at the young man, his body still shaking from his nostril explosion. Ned remained still, not taking any chances.<\/p>\n
\u2018Oh dear,\u2019 began the dragon in his deep voice, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry, but what can I d,d,dooo?\u2019 he bellowed, sending sparks flying over Ned\u2019s head and narrowly missing Tom who had taken that unfortunate moment to peer over the boulders wondering what was happening. Ned saw him duck down again rubbing at the ends of his singed hair.<\/p>\n
As the heat passed, Ned lifted his head and looked back at the anguished dragon, standing with a huge paw clasped over his quaking nostrils.<\/p>\n
\u2018We must do something, Cedric.\u2019 Ned muttered from his place on the grass. \u2018NO!\u2019 he continued, \u2018don\u2019t speak, Cedric. Please just listen.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Mmm,\u2019 mumbled Cedric the dragon through his scaly paw.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019ve always welcomed you living so near to our village. You are a great protector for us,\u2019 Ned continued, \u2018but since your sneezing began in Spring our trade has almost stopped. Jack the baker arrived with a wagon full of charred bread after passing your cave. The horses run so fast when they hear you that visitors either leave town before they know they\u2019ve entered it, or arrive head first! Cedric, what can I say?\u2019 Ned asked, rising to his knees now. \u2018We can\u2019t go on.\u2019 He spread his hands in a gesture of apology, his face and tone showing the sadness he felt in being chosen the spokesperson of the village.<\/p>\n
\u2018Do you want me to l.l.leave? Ahhh CHOOO\u2019 sneezed the dragon, narrowly missing Ned with a ball of flames as he threw himself flat on the ground again.<\/p>\n
Cedric gripped his snout, tears clear in his eyes.<\/p>\n
Ned couldn\u2019t bear to say yes. \u2018Leave it with me\u2019, he replied. I\u2019ll talk to the others.\u2019<\/p>\n
Sliding over to the boulders, still on his stomach just in case Cedric was overcome by another series of sneezes, Ned reached the tight pile of villagers. \u2018I can\u2019t do it! Could any of you?\u2019 He stared them all in the eyes, which were about three inches from the ground, one by one. No one spoke up. \u2018Right,\u2019 decided Ned. \u2018We can\u2019t make him leave, so our only alternative is to cure him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018How?\u2019 asked Sam the stonemason. \u2018Cut his head off?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018That kind of talk won\u2019t get us anywhere,\u2019 replied Ned. \u2018Where\u2019s Meggy?\u2019 he suddenly announced, noticing someone missing from the pile of bodies.<\/p>\n
Everyone stared over or around their hiding place in horror. While they had been discussing the dragon, the little girl had slipped out from behind the boulders and ambled over to the dragon! She was now stood singing to herself as she picked flowers from around the mouth of the cave.<\/p>\n
\u2018Meg!\u2019 yelled Ned. \u2018Get back here!\u2019 If Cedric sneezed now, anything could happen!<\/p>\n
The child returned to them, unaware of the danger and still sniffing her small bunch of red and blue flowers.<\/p>\n
Ned began to speak again, but was cut short by a high pitched \u2018Atishoo!\u2019<\/p>\n
All the village folk buried their heads in the ground, before they realised that the air was not blistered with heat. The sneeze had come from Meggy.<\/p>\n
\u2018Bless you,\u2019 spluttered Ned through a mouthful of earth. He then stared at the flowers, a thought forming in his mind. \u2018Wait, yes. That could be it. I\u2019m sure it is…\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The next day Ned stood at his full height before Cedric, staring at the cleared cave mouth. Not a flower was in sight.<\/p>\n
\u2018Thank you, Ned,\u2019 said the dragon. \u2018I haven\u2019t sneezed once since the villagers moved all the flowers. I had no idea I had an allergy to them and they were making me sneeze!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Glad to help, Cedric.\u2019 Ned replied with a smile, patting the dragon on his scaly paw. \u2018And if you see any more flowers start to grow there, breathe on them with your fiery breath. When no one else is around, of course!\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Fiery Sneeze \u00a9Lynne North 2015 \u2018Go on, then!\u2019 the villagers encouraged, pushing Ned forwards. \u2018Go ON.\u2019 With no choice in the matter, Ned shuddered, but did as he was told and edged forwards to the gaping mouth of the cave. \u2018C…C…Cedric?\u2019 he all but whispered. There was no reply. \u2018He\u2019s not in,\u2019 Ned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,7,10],"tags":[32,39,54,64,89],"class_list":["post-1102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-promotion","category-childrens-books","category-fantasy","category-humour","tag-books","tag-childrens-book","tag-fantasy","tag-humour","tag-short-stories"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1103,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions\/1103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}