February 27th

Dear Master Jack,

 

I hope you are well. I have heard that you are now staying in a house with your family and other people. It must be grand to be living with your little sister and mother again.

Now on to my story. As you can imagine, everyone in the room was astonished when they saw the long slender golden dragon standing in the doorway. Grandfather Frenthfar recovered himself sufficiently to remember his manners. He carefully removed us granddragons from his back, shoulders, and head and then he went to greet the guest.

“Greetings and welcome Lady Lian,” he said, and he bowed low.

“Greetings to you Lord Frenthfar,” the beautiful dragon replied, returning the bow. Her voice was smooth and rich (See note 1), and hearing it made me feel strange inside. “When I heard that your daughter’s eggs had hatched, I decided that I had to come to see the lucky younglings.” She looked to where we five stood and I could feel her dark gold eyes watching me. Her gaze was kind but it made me feel uncomfortable.

“Come and meet our guest, younglings,” Grandfather Frenthfar said. We five shared glances and then looked at Lady Lian. None of were keen to approach her. I know that may seem strange, but we had never seen a Chinese dragon before, and we were somewhat afraid of her.

“Do not be afraid little ones,” she said gently. “Come.” Cautiously, I began to walk towards her.  “Ah, he must be the first hatched,” she said. “I can tell.”

“He is indeed, Lady Lian. Allow me to present Gryf, son of Annwyl and Mael. Bow to Lady Lian, Gyf.”

I managed an awkward little bow. Not knowing what else to say I blurted out, “Thank you for coming to our party.” Lady Lian gave a rippling little laugh and she bent her great head down to get a closer look at me. Never having seen a dragon with such big eyes and teeth I wanted to back away from her, but I stood my ground.

“Such a brave little one you are, Master Gryf. I can feel that there is a strong Gift in you, one that will give you opportunities that most dragons can only dream of. This Gift is rare and only dragons born in the Year of the Golden Dragon are born with it.”

“What is the Gift?” I asked.

“You must wait and see, Master Gryf. Around your hundredth year it will appear. Be patient.”

I imagine that you wondering what a Gift is. All dragons are born with a special ability, which we call a Gift. Grandmother Frenthfar could create music that had the power to make those who listen to it feel calmer, safer, or happier. Grandfather Frenthfar could fly faster than any dragon in Wales. My mother’s Gift gave her the ability to create beautiful paintings and drawings, works of art that were full of emotion and a sense of place. Father could blend into his surroundings so convincingly that he seemed to disappear. He would stand in front of a wall in our cave and his red scales would shift and change until he looked as if he was part of the stone behind him.

Dragons usually find out what their Gift is some time around their hundredth birthday, and the arrival of the Gift was always marked with a big feast and celebration. Waiting for the Gift to arrive was always a little nerve wracking because one had no idea what it would be. It could even be potentially dangerous. Grandfather Frenthfar’s Gift arrived when he was flying towards a mountain on day. Without warning he suddenly began to fly many times faster than was usual and he almost crashed. It took him some time before he learned how to control his speed and therefore master his Gift.

Mother and Father came up and introduced themselves and thanked Lady Lian for traveling such a great distance to attend our celebration.

“It is an honor to be here, Lady Annwyl,” Lian said inclining her head a little. “You know that Lord Frenthfar and your sister Lady Branwen came to China when my second clutch of eggs hatched. That clutch was very important to my partner and I because it represented hope for the future. All the chicks (See Note 2) in our first clutch had sickened and died. After the loss I wrote to Lady Branwen telling her about my chicks because I had heard that she was a famous Healer. I wanted to understand what had happened to my chicks. When she heard that I had laid another clutch, she decided to come to China to do what she could to make sure that my new chicks survived. We were so grateful that she did, because soon after she arrived the chicks in the second clutch began to sicken just as the ones in the first clutch had done. Lady Branwen and Lord Frenthfar set about trying to save my chicks and they also looked for the cause of the illness. Together they was able to do both things and we will always be grateful for their help. It is only right that I should be here to celebrate the hatching of Lord Frenthfar’s granddragons, these special Golden younglings.”

 

Note 1: All dragons speak the language of their species which is called Hisama. Most also speak at least one human language. Grandfather Frenthfar spoke Hisama, Welsh, English, Latin, Greek, French, and Gaelic. He was a VERY well educated dragon.

Note 2: When dragons first hatch they are called chicks. After a few weeks they are no longer infants and they are called younglings.

February 21st

Dear Master Jack,

I hope you have had a good week. I heard that some of your friends visited you and that you were able to celebrate you birthday with them. What a treat that must have been.

Now, where was I with my story? Ah, yes, I was telling you about the celebration that was given in our honor at our Clan Hall. Members of our clan invited friends and relatives to attend the celebration, which was going to be a grand one because my siblings and I were the first baby dragons to hatch in the year 1584. This was a very important year because it was the year of the golden dragon.

My parents carried myself, Neirin, Eirin, and Tesni to the Clan Hall in baskets and then my mother went back to our cave to get Rhys. She was almost at the rock shelf in front of the hall when Rhys, who had been poking his head out of his basket, leaned way over to see something on the ground, and then he fell out! There was a gasp of horror as we watched Rhys fall through the air. He screamed and tried desperately to flap his little wings. When younglings are only a few months old their wings are rather useless little flaps of skin. I often used to trip over my wings and found them to be a great inconvenience.

Then I saw a flash of red swoop over me and a large dragon plucked Rhys out of the air with his talons. The dragon cut through the air, made a graceful turn and then slowly, with big flaps of its wings, flew back to where we stood. I saw then that the dragon was Grandfather Frenthfar! I had thought that he was an old and inactive dragon. I certainly never imagined that he could move so fast.

Grandfather Frenthfar landed on the rock shelf and dropped Rhys. Rhys was whimpering and trembling and my father immediately tried to comfort him. My mother flew over and flung herself at Grandfather, trying to embrace him. He firmly but gently pushed her away muttering that he had only done “what every dragon would have done,” and that “taking care of younglings is something that we all do.”

I could not understand how my grandfather was able to move so fast, and it was only later that I learned that his incredible speed had to do with his Gift. I will tell you more about Gifts later.

After we had all recovered sufficiently from our shock, we went into the Clan Hall. As we walked in, voices were raised to welcome us and talons were tapped on scales so that the big room rang. This is the way dragons express their appreciation for someone. I believe you humans clap your hands when you want to express this. My siblings and I were placed on a dais so that everyone could look at us and I felt very embarrassed indeed. Rhys, fully recovered from his fall, tapped his little talons on his scales and clearly enjoyed all the attention we were getting. He began to walk up and down the dais with his chest out and his head held high. Back and forth he went when, without any warning, he fell off the dais because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. Down he fell into a big bowl of dandelion wine and Grandfather Frenthfar had to fish him out.

When we were sure that he was not hurt, everyone started to chuckle. One of the dragons from Ireland told my father that Rhys was “going to be a handful,” and my father agreed.

“He is going to be more trouble than the other four put together,” Grandfather Frenthfar said and he set Rhys on his shoulder. “Now stay there you little scallywag and don’t move a scale,” he said. Rhys rode around on grandfather’s shoulder for the rest of evening, except when our parents gave us our dinner.

After a grand feast, the tables and benches in the hall were pushed back and musicians gathered at the far end of the room, tuning their instruments. My mother, Annwyl, and Grandmother Frenthfar joined the musicians. Grandmother had her harp (which she was given as a gift when she visited Ireland) and my mother had her flute. Tentatively at first, the musicians began to play. The music swelled and filled the hall. My father, Mael, led his sister out to dance and soon the space was filled with dragons swaying and dipping. Green Irish dragons danced with the silver dragons that had flown to Wales for the occasion from their homes in the cold lands to the north. A rich coppery colored English dragon twirled with the golden yellow African dragon who was visiting us that winter. A single dragon from Iceland danced alone, her beautiful ice blue scales gleaming and sparkling. 

For a time we four younglings (and Rhys on Grandfather’s shoulder) sat and watched the spectacle. Then Grandfather gathered up Neirin, Eirin, Tesni and I. He placed me on his free shoulder, put Neirin and Eirin on his back, and perched Tesni on his head. Then Grandfather marched out into the middle of the hall on all four legs. The other dragons cleared a space for him, and soon the five of us and Grandfather were surrounded by a swirling circle of dancing dragons. While grandfather gracefully sauntered around the circle, Tesni hopped about joyfully on Grandfather’s head holding on to his horns. Eirin bobbed her head in time with the music, and Neirin tapped his claws on Grandfather’s back ridge scales, flicking his tail left and right. Rhys swayed and kicked his legs.

Master Jack, the moment was a magical one that I will never forget. Even now, after so many years have passed, I feel a joyful warmth fill me when I think of that time.

Then, in the middle of the dance, a blast of cold air filled the hall and the the dragons around us stopped dancing and looked towards the huge door of the hall. In the doorway stood a dragon the like of which I had never seen before. Bright gold scales covered its long and thin body and it had a shimmering mane, beard, and tail. Its horns were extremely long and it had no wings at all.

“Lian!” Grandfather whispered. “She came all the way from China!”

February 14, 2013

Dear Jack:

Happy Birthday to you and a very happy Valentine's Day as well! Turning nine is a big deal. After all, it is the last single digit birthday that you are going to have. I know that your ninth year is going to be full of adventures. Some are going to be amazing, and some are going to be tough, and you are going to sail through them all with a big smile on your face because that is what you do.

Since this is a special birthday I have decided to do something for you that I have never done before. You may not know this, but I am writer as well as a reader and since September I have writing about a dragon called Gryf. For your 9th birthday Gryf is going to send you a letter every Thursday. In his letters he is going to tell you about his life, and about the adventures he has had. Since he was born a long time ago and since dragons live for a very long time, he has a lot of stories to tell.

This website was built for you and you can read and reread the letters whenever you want. Come back here every Thursday to get your next letter.

I send you all my love on your special day,

Marya

February 14th, 2013

Dear Master Jack,

Lady M (the person I am living with) told me about you, and I was very moved when I heard your story.  In my experience, not many people are able to summon up courage and good humor when they have been unwell and are recovering. I understand from what Lady M told me that your recovery may take a few weeks. Since you will probably have some time on your hands and since you like to read, I thought I would share my story with you. I think that you may find it interesting.

My name is Gryf Frenthfar Baugh. Frenthfar is the name of my family, and Baugh is the name of my clan. All dragon families belong to a clan. In my clan there were ten families, and we were a strong community; we raised crops, traded with other clans (and a few humans), taught our younglings, and shared our knowledge and talents with each other. In other parts of the world dragon clans are bigger or smaller than ours was. Some of the dragons in the cold countries at the top of the world are single family clans, while some in India have more than twenty families in one clan.

My family lived in caves high in the Welsh mountains. The little town of Bala was in the valley below, and Lake Bala was one of my favorite places to visit. Our clan had a large Clan Hall that our ancestors had dug out of the rock. In addition to the hall, which is where we gathered for meetings and celebrations, there were some smaller rooms. Some of the rooms were used for storing supplies, one of the rooms was the school room, and there was also a library, a bathing room, a music room, and an art room.

My family lived not far from the Clan Hall. My great great grandmother and grandfather had dug the family caves in a mountainside so that there was a large entry way, a kind of porch if you will. In the spring and summer we would sit in this space in the evenings and look out over the mountains, watching the sun set.

I hatched in the late winter in 1484, soon after the New Year celebration. My parents were very proud because our kin in China had told us (see Note 1 below) that it was the year of the Golden Dragon, which meant that all the dragon chicks born in that year would be especially lucky. 

I was the first egg in the clutch to hatch, my brothers and sisters coming into the world in the weeks that followed. My first real memory was of my mother. I remember looking up into her face as she cradled me in her arms and sang to me. I saw firelight flicker on her gentle face. Her horns glowed and the warmth in her golden eyes made me feel safe. My mother was a very lovely dragon with deep red scales, and her wings were tipped with black, which was very usual.

When my siblings hatched out of their eggs I had to get used to not being the center of attention any longer. At first their arrival was very unwelcome, but once they began to talk and play I found them more interesting and it wasn’t long before I was happy that they were there. (See Note 2 below)

Though I was the first chick to hatch, I was not the biggest. My brother Neirin hatched two weeks after I did, and it was soon clear to everyone in the clan that he was going to grow up to be a very big and burly dragon. Which he did.

Eirin hatched next and she was a delicate and very pretty little dragon. She was quiet and shy, and liked to play by herself with her playthings. Eirin was gentle, patient and kind and when she grew up she became a very skilled healer.

Rhys arrived soon after Eirin, and he was a troublemaker almost from the moment he hatched. Rhys was curious about everything and I cannot tell you how many times we had to rescue him. In just a month Rhys managed to fall down a well, set fire to his bed (four times), get stuck up a tree (three times) and he drove Grandfather Frenthfar to distraction so often that Grandfather decided that he needed to take a vacation.

Tesni, the last chick in our clutch, was a bright cheerful little creature. She was beloved by everyone, and she seemed to bring warmth and light with her wherever she went. No one could stay annoyed with her for long, even when they wanted to!

Our clutch was the first to hatch that year and so there was a big celebration a month after Tesni had hatched. We younglings could not fly yet, so our parents put us in strong baskets and flew to the Clan Hall with the baskets gripped tightly in their claws. There were no problems until Mother picked up Rhys’s basket and started to fly to the Clan Hall. The adults should have known better than to put Rhys in an open basket!

Best wishes from your friend Gryf.

Note 1: Unlike humans, we dragons were able to communicate with others of our kind quite easily, and we often got letters from our kin in China, India, Persia, Africa, and Europe. The clans living to the north in Finland and Russia were not big letter writers, but we did hear from them every so often. Perhaps you are wondering how we were able to do this. Well, dear boy, the answer is a simple one. Most of us can fly, and we can fly long distances quite easily. Traveling dragons would take letters with them, dropping them off at Letter Stations. Then the letters would get picked up and taken on to the next Letter Station and so on until the letter reached its destination.

Note 2: Dragons chicks develop very quickly. They are able to walk around in just a few days, and can communicate well in a few weeks. When they are born, their wings are small weak things and they don’t start learning to fly until they are at least six or seven months old.