One late evening, upon finding it to be bedtime, a young boy, Milo Whitfield, requested that his father tell him a bedtime story. Eager to get his son to bed, Mr. Whitfield readily agreed, and, on hearing his father's agreement, Milo quickly forgot the pouting and other such nonsense as is typical of children in denial of betimes.

With the promise of a story in hand, Milo had no hesitation in readying for bed, and preparations- changing into pajamas, brushing teeth, and getting into bed- were quickly made. Then, Mr. Whitfield sat on the edge of Milo's bed, and began to tell his story. He told it as follows:

It had been a well known fact for some time that a dragon had taken up residence in a mountain near a certain village. This fact was well known because for quite a while, the dragon had been scaring villagers, burning down houses, stealing farm animals, and generally making a nuisance of itself.

Now, after a few months of this, the villagers had become quite annoyed with the dragon, and decided that it simply had to go. Selected for the task of dragon removal was a young knight who had much skill in fighting dragons. The villagers told the knight "just follow the path to the mountain, it will take you right to the dragon's lair."

So, the very next day, the knight set off on the path, ready to fight the dragon. He walked along the path for some time, eventually coming to the foothills of the mountain. There was a river that ran through these hills, and a bridge across it. To cross the bridge, the knight would have to face mean little troll who owned the bridge, and gobbled up anyone who tried to pass.

The knight was on an important quest, though, and he went to cross the bridge anyway. But as soon as he set foot on it, the nasty troll jumped out with a shout, ready to eat the knight. The knight was very clever, though, and before the troll could bite him, he shouted "Wait! You mustn't eat me yet!"

The troll was rather surprised. He was used to people crossing the bridge running and screaming when he jumped out, not this most insistent objection. Curious, the troll asked why he mustn't eat the knight yet.

"Because I am on a quest," the knight said, "to rid these lands of that dragon."

Now, the troll knew of the dragon quite well, and was rather furious with the dragon for scaring everyone away from his bridge. But the troll was of a rather suspicious sort, not to mention he was quite hungry, and had been looking forward to eating the knight, so it was no surprise that the troll voiced suspicion over the knight's claim. At this, the knight argued that the troll could go ask anyone in the village to see if his words were true, but the troll was reluctant to go, as he was convinced that as soon as he left, the knight would cross the bridge.

Becoming frustrated with the stubborn troll, the knight said "Listen here, troll, I am on a very important quest, and it simply must be completed as soon as possible. If you are so determined to eat me, then perhaps tomorrow, once I've defeated the dragon, we can resume this confrontation."

Well, the troll replied, that seemed alright with him, so long as the knight promised to come back tomorrow, once he was finished with the dragon. Glad to be on his way, the knight crossed the bridge and continued on his path.

Now, some several hours later, the knight was quite near to the foot of the mountain, and he had become quite parched. Luckily, whoever had made the path on which the knight traveled had apparently been clever enough to dig a well right next to the path, on the off chance that a dehydrated dragon-slayer happened to be passing by. Thankful for the path-builder's foresight, the knight began to draw up a bucket of water from the well. Unfortunately for the knight, a water nymph had found the bottom of the well to be a rather pleasant dwelling, and was not happy about the knight "stealing" the water of her home.

Swiftly, the nymph jumped from the well and attempted to push the knight in, if not to drown him at the bottom, then to leave him stuck forever at the bottom of the well. But the knight, recognizing a familiarly perilous situation, shouted to the nymph, "Wait! You mustn't push me in yet!"

The nymph had expected screaming and flailing, and was rather surprised by the knight's calm, if a bit loud, objection to the situation. Her surprise quickly gave way to curiosity, and she inquired on the knight's argument.

"It is because I am on a quest," the knight said. "I am going to fight the dragon."

Now, the nymph knew rather well of the dragon. It was because of the dragon that she had been forced to leave her original pond home; the dragon had burned down all the trees and choked the water with ashes. And for as nice of a home the well was, the nymph was still mad at the dragon for destroying her first home.

But it was because of the loss of her pond that she could not let the knight's intrusion on her new home go unpunished. Despite the knight's protest that two mouthfuls of water from the well would not make a noticeable difference in the well's water level and that letting him go on would allow the nymph revenge on the dragon, the nymph steadfastly began to shove the knight into the well.

Finally, the knight shouted in exasperation, "Nymph! I cannot waste any more time here, I simply must make it to the dragon! If you are sincerely so fixated on pushing me into the well, at least allow me to achieve my goal, and then, perhaps tomorrow, you can push me in once I have finished with the dragon."

Realizing that such an arrangement would rid her of both the knight and the dragon, the nymph allowed the knight to continue on, so long as he promised to return so she could push him into the well. And the knight began his trek up the mountain, to the dragon's cave.

Come the time that the sun neared the horizon, the knight reached the plateau on which the entryway to the dragon's lair sat. It was an ominous cavern to be sure, the darkness seeming to loom over the dragon-slaying adventurer. Preferring to not confront the darkness without a light, the knight shouted into the cave, "Dragon! I have come to defeat you! Come and face me!"

It took a good long while, but eventually, amid the scraping of scales on stone, the huge reptile lumbered out of the cave, irritably querying as to the source of the shouting that had interrupted his slumber. To this, the knight spoke up, challenging the dragon.

The dragon merely blinked in the evening sun and looked down at the knight. "O mighty warrior, I have been nearly 'round the world in this day, burning countless villages and eating many poor farmers' livestock. My work of today has left me very weary, and I know that you, a knight of noble blood, would never raise a sword against an opponent unable to defend himself. If you are so resolved to face me in combat, then perhaps tomorrow, when I have rested, we can fight."

Here in the story, Mr. Whitfield paused, looking at his son. "But, Milo, it's getting rather late, and it's your bedtime. I'll tell you the rest of the story later."

Milo just nodded, and when he fell asleep, his dreams were full of knights and dragons.

Well, the next day came, and Milo spent it in a similar manner as all young boys his age. Eventually, evening came, and Milo was getting ready for bed, eagerly awaiting the rest of the story, when Mr. Whitfield asked, "Milo, did you take out the trash today?"

Milo's response was an innocent smile to accompany his childish voice. "No, dad, but it's almost bedtime and I want to hear the story. Perhaps I could do that tomorrow?"

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A/N

So I wrote this story for my English lit. class. The assignment was that I had to write a story inspired by another author's works, and the author I chose was Mark Twain, the three stories I was working with particularly being "The Five Boons of Life," "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," and "What Stumped the Bluejays." If you're interested in reading these, I'd definitely recommend checking them out!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!