Dragon Alfred lay basking on the clifftop, as young dragons tend to do. His life was quite carefree, and he was actually rather content. Nothing was expected of him, as he wasn't very old yet, and he had no ambitions of going against expectations. Therefore, it didn't impress him either when the older dragons began talking about going out to find themselves a treasure and a princess.

Some of the little dragons spoke dreamily about how wonderful it must be to become an adult dragon and be able to go on big adventures.
”I don't understand why you're in such a hurry,” Alfred exclaimed, puzzled. ”It's lovely to lie here in the sun without any major duties to attend to.”
A small dragon, Mads, got up and looked at Alfred in great astonishment. ”Duties?” Mads asked. ”How can you call looking after beautiful treasures and princesses a duty? Have you ever seen a diamond? Then you wouldn't call it a duty.”
Alfred grinned. ”Neither have you.”
”Oh no, but I've had it described to me, and I really can't wait to grow up and go out and find my own treasure and my very own princess,” Mads replied dreamily.
”Yes, I'm not in much of a hurry, you see,” replied Alfred. ”I rather like lying here in the sun.”
Mads shook his head and so did a couple of small dragons who had overheard the conversation.
Alfred simply rolled onto his back and enjoyed the feeling of the sun warming his belly, and shortly after, he fell asleep. So did several of the others. Little dragons can't stay awake for long at a time, which is one of the main reasons they have to wait until they're older to go on adventures.

Later in the day, Alfred and the other little dragons woke up to a great commotion amongst the older dragons. He crept over to where the big dragons were and listened to their conversation.
”The King has offered a reward to he who can procure him the largest diamond before the next full moon,” one of the oldest dragons announced solemnly. ”And you can almost guess what this reward is?” The old dragon let the sentence hang in the air for a moment, for suspense.
”The princess and half the kingdom!”
A gasp went through all the old dragons and from several of the small ones, who had followed Alfred's example and were listening.
”Ohh, why am I not grown up yet,” exclaimed a little dragon, and several others joined in.
The adult dragons discovered that the little ones had been eavesdropping and herded them back to their cliff. A bit crestfallen, the little dragons went back. Only Alfred was not disheartened.
”It'll be exciting to see who wins,” he smiled. ”But do you really think the king intended for a dragon to win? Isn't it usually a king's son who wins the princess and half the kingdom?”
Mads nudged Alfred playfully. ”Of course the king expects it to be a king's son who finds the diamond. But I think he forgot to say that dragons aren't allowed to participate. Probably because he doesn't think we'd even consider it,” Mads chuckled.
Now it was Alfred's turn to shake his head, though he was still a little bit excited, because even though he wasn't in a hurry to grow up and go on big adventures, he was, after all, a dragon. He was just not very old yet, and his inner adventurer was still more captivated by the sun's rays than by treasures and princesses.

At night he lay on his cliff-top and dreamed of the day's events, and of how lovely it was to float in the sun. In his sleep, he rolled onto his back, just as he had done during the day, but to his great misfortune, he was lying so close to the edge that he rolled over the cliff.
He awoke mid-fall and was very frightened. He hadn't learned to fly yet, but instinct took over anyway and his wings spread out. It slowed the fall a bit, but he still managed to hit his head and one wing.
”Oof,” he grunted, clutching his head. He looked up at the rock face, feeling despair wash over him. ”Oh, it's a long way up.” It was very dark around him, and he became a little scared, so he crawled into a small cave that lay before him.
The cave's opening was just big enough for Alfred to squeeze inside. His wing hurt a lot, and he felt quite miserable.
Then he heard some sounds outside the cave that he didn't recognise, and crawled even further in. ”Ouch, what's this now?” he whimpered. The.

 -

The most wonderful and dazzling sight met Alfred as he awoke. The morning sun's rays had found their way into the cave to Alfred and now flowed like water over the rock walls, but what was most breathtaking were the shining diamonds he was surrounded by. They reflected light throughout the whole cave, and Alfred found himself bathed in the most beautiful colours. He had no doubt for a second that it was diamonds he was surrounded by and the little dragon's heart swelled. Suddenly he understood what the great dragons were talking about, and he walked excitedly around the cave, admiring his find.
”My darling,” he laughed happily. ”My very own.” He looked towards where he had been sleeping, and his eyes met a dazzling light from a colossal diamond. It had so many facets that it almost seemed round and not sharp like other diamonds. This must have been what he had slept against, and which had felt nice and safe.
He had never heard of a diamond that was almost round before, but there was still so much he didn't know. The diamond was very large and heavy, so he laid it on the ground and began to roll it, as best he could, towards the exit. He was curious to see what it looked like out in the sun.

The pain in his wing intensified as he moved faster. So he folded it tightly against his body and tried to avoid bumping too much into the cave walls. The almost round diamond shone with a lovely soft light. ”As soft to look at as it is to touch,” he smiled to himself.
”Hello,” a voice suddenly sounded from above the cave. Alfred flinched and was about to crawl back into the cave. ”No, you mustn't go, I won't hurt you.” The voice was delicate and melodic, and Alfred looked up and spotted a little girl sitting with her legs dangling from the top of the cave entrance.
Slowly the girl began to crawl down, and Alfred backed away, making himself as small as possible, his eyes wide open. The wing was pinched as he backed into the rock face behind him. ”Ouch,” he squeaked and began to scurry away from the girl.
”Wait for me,” she shouted after him. ”Where are we going? I can't run that fast.”
Alfred stopped. She actually didn't sound very dangerous, and he turned and looked into two big smiling eyes.
”Hello, my name is Mira. Who are you?”
”Alfred,” he replied, dropping his gaze.
”Are you a dragon?”
The little dragon nodded, and still didn't dare to look at the girl.
”You do look sweet,” she exclaimed.
Surprised, Alfred looked up at her. The sunbeams shone through her golden hair and Alfred couldn't help but return the girl's smile. At the same moment, he spotted the large diamond he had left by the cave.
”Come,” he said almost inaudibly and walked past the girl. Back towards the cave and the diamond. The girl trotted alongside him.
”What shall we do now?” she asked excitedly
He proudly showed his diamond. ”I found this one.”
”Oh, it's the finest, biggest diamond I've ever seen,” she exclaimed with a little squeal.
Alfred smiled. ”I've found several diamonds too. Would you like to see?”
The girl clapped her hands and smiled.
”But it's my treasure, I'm the one who found it,” he said with as much determination as a little dragon could muster.
”Of course,” said the girl seriously, but with a gentle smile in her eyes.

They were about to enter the cave when Alfred bumped into the wall with his wing again. ”Ouch, ouch.”
”You keep saying ouch. Have you hurt yourself?,
”It's my wing,” he replied, tears welling up in his eyes. ”I fell down from up there last night.” He pointed upwards.
”Oh, that was long. Shall I look at your wing?”
He spread the wing, so she could examine the damage. ”Hmm,” she said gravely.
”Is it very bad,” he asked anxiously, on the verge of tears again.
”No, there's a little tear, I think it'll be alright if I blow on it.” She started to blow, and Alfred actually thought he could feel it helping. She finished her blowing with a little kiss. ”There, you're almost all better now. But I think you should be careful not to keep banging your wing against the rocks,” she said very seriously. ”We can play out here instead and then look at your treasure when you're feeling better.”

All day long they played outside the cave or basked in the sun. The little girl lay down next to Alfred and they both fell asleep in the sun. They had lain down right in front of the cave entrance, so Alfred could guard his treasure even though they were sleeping. He held the large diamond close to himself, so it wouldn't get lost.

That was the sight that met one of the adult dragons, who was out looking for him. As the large.
”Well now, little Alfred, what have you got there?” asked the adult dragon.
Alfred looked around for Mira and could just make out that she was waving from the darkness of the cave. But then he also realised that it was his almost round diamond that the adult dragon had spotted, not Mira.
”Isn't it beautiful?” Alfred asked excitedly.
”Yes, very much so, but you are far too young to be looking for treasures, little Alfred,” said the adult dragon worriedly. ”You could have been seriously hurt.”
”I fell down from the cliff and hurt my wing,” chirped Alfred. ”I wasn't even out looking for treasure.”
”That was quite a long fall for someone as small as you. Climb onto my back, and I'll fly you back up again. Just hold on tight to both me and your diamond.”
”I’d love to, but I’ve got something to do.”
The adult dragon looked on in wonder as Alfred ran into the cave.
”I'll look after your treasure until you get back,” whispered Mira. ”When will you learn to fly so you can come down here again?”
”It probably won't be long...”
”And otherwise, I'll fly you down here,” laughed the adult dragon, who had come all the way to the cave to see what Alfred was up to.

Alfred said goodbye to Mira and climbed onto the adult dragon’s back. He was greeted with great excitement by the other little dragons, who wanted to hear all about his little adventure. And time and time again he had to show them the big diamond.
”You can definitely win the princess with the big diamond now,” said Mads with great pride on his friend's behalf.
”Well, I’m not at all interested in the princess,” Alfred chuckled. ”I don’t think princesses are my thing.” Alfred clutched his round diamond happily and was delighted with his treasure. And he was already looking forward to going back down to play with Mira again.

What he didn't know was that the little girl who had helped him, and with whom he had played all day, was in reality a princess. But at that point, Alfred was not much different from other dragons. Princesses and beautiful diamonds are and will remain dragons” weakness. The big difference was that Alfred had not needed to abduct the princess. They had become friends at such an early age that when she grew up and became a ”real" princess, their bond of friendship was so strong that it never occurred to him to abduct her, as other dragons were in the habit of doing with princesses.

If you buy a dragon piece of jewellery for a child at Castens, you’ll receive the story above in a little booklet. If the jewellery is for yourself or another adult, you’ll receive "Dragon Fire in the Dark" instead. You can read the story here.