A Claymore and the dragons

  The title doesn't give too much away, does it? A claymore is a two handed broadsword made by the Scotish. The 17th century was fought using those tremendous weapons. Someday I hope to get one.

  Let me share a tale. Its a true tale. One that happened to me. Somewhere in the forgotten past....

  I remember those epic battles of youth. The swords would be drawn and we would "duel". It was a delicate process because we were frightened of actually getting hurt. I mean, sure the swords were plastic, but they could draw first blood! So we would end up hacking at bushes or trees, but really we were slaying ogres.

  Many a valiant campaign was fought in those days. Enemy camps were all around. When the territories were finally conquered, we then turned our attention to the enormous dragon problem that faced the countryside.

  We would set up these huge iron prisons and capture the dragons. Wrestling the dragon and making it play nice was our way of showing off. Watch out men! Be very careful to avoid those slavering teeth!

  The dragons loved hiding in the shade. So, we would perch the prison upon a great rock on one side and then wait for the dragon to hide underneath. Then very quietly we would sneak up, yank away the boulder, and capture the magnificent beast.

  While in captivity the dragons would get hungry and we would plunder the neighboring towns for goats or sheep to calm the savage creature.

  Sometimes the dragon would make for an escape. We would cast ourselves onto his tail and wrestle him back into the prison. Some dragons had learned to abandon their tail so they could escape and they could grow new ones! Can't save your face and ass at the same time, right? 

  Eventually night time would come. We would have to retire our swords for the night. Usually we let the dragons go but sometimes mom allowed us to keep them inside.

  I am not sure she understood why we would take her iron skillets outside or why we would set them on the ground with one side lifted up by a rock. Those were the days when skillets were prisons, lizards were dragons, flies were sheep, and little boys were warriors.