Once upon a time...

... there lived a young woman who loved children, pandas, and cereal. She wanted to change the world one student at a time and to foster lifelong learners... because that's just what damsels like to do. She swore she would never make a child grow up too fast since that is what happened to this young woman, too. She would be protector of students' rights and dreamed of finding a dashing gentleman with the same ideals of wanting to help others, standing up for the little, and eating chocolate chip cookies when necessary.

But, one day, a scaly, fire-breathing dragon stormed into town, squashing the base-10 blocks and the ever-so popular Matter Matters game (cleverly thought up by our heroine). Children shrieked and scattered, but our heroine stood tall, brandishing her purple Crayola marker and perfected teacher stare.

"Never will you destroy these young minds! They need life in their education! Be gone!" she cried with her palm waving in the monster's face.

The dragon roared and hissed. "FUN!? I do not like this FUN! I have contracts to keep and appearances to make! Things to destroy!"

"You will have to find somewhere else to meet your requirements! They are not welcomed here, and I shall banish you with... with..."

From out of some misty fog yonder, a dashing gentleman (just the very one that we hoped for!) rode onto the scene on a dappled-gray horse named Specks. The horse neighed and whinnied, letting its mane ruffle in the wind. It was quite the dramatic entrance. Moreso for the pony.

"What goes on here?" he exclaimed after giving the trademark cool kid nod and wink to the young woman.

"This dragon threatens these children's love for school and all things educational!"

"WHAT! That cannot be done!" he yelled and pulled a large soccer whistle out of his saddlebag.

The dragon roared and stomped on some more money games and missing addends flashcards. "Educational FUN is bad!!" The dragon was quite testy now and becoming a big headache for our heroine.

"You know what, you're giving me a headache with your ranting, dragon. Make it easy on yourself and just go weave on a loom or something."

This really ticked off the dragon and, with one fell swoop, snatched up the damsel in its grimy claws. Smoke seeping out of its fiery nostrils. "What did you say to me?! I can squeeze you to pieces!! You'll never have FUN again, now will you!?"

Now the gentleman gasped in horror at the monstrosity, and since his lady friend was in distress, knew he had to resort to the ultimate secret weapon. He blew the whistle and hollered...

"DAMSEL IS IN TROUBLE, KIDS!! She's in trouble!! It's Dragon Playtime!! Let's see who can measure its length first!!"

Out of the woodworks, kids of seven and eight years of age poured into the streets and flooded the dragon's feet. They swarmed the dragon, spinning yarn, measuring tapes, and other educational math tools around and around. The dragon huffed and puffed, waving its smoky arms (with damsel in tact, of course, causing her to not only have a headache, but a little bit of a stomachache).

Kids were squealing with delight as they whipped their tapes and tools around. A few scrambled up the dragon's belly and started a little rumble with each other because of someone moving their measuring tape two inches off. The gentleman corralled the oncoming giggling children with determination. Within ten minutes, the dragon was soon overtaken by the immensity of children and their fun, and its body soared to the ground.

The dragon's claws ripped through the air, trying to grasp onto anything... and the damsel went sailing down towards the sea of youth. The gentleman leapt onto his mighty steed and galloped towards the falling damsel. Into his arms, she landed with perfect ease and grace.

"The children! How will we ever know who got the correct measurement!?" the damsel cried.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a darn," he grinned and gave her a dreamy rated-G smooch.

The children cheered as they played on the dragon's legs and used its tummy as a Moon Bounce. One little boy ran up to the damsel and gentleman, waving his torn measuring tape in the air, "I want to learn forever, Miss Damsel and Mr. Gentleman! Learning is fun!"

They smiled at each other, pleased at their conquest. No dragon would ever ruin the children's education again. As soon as all the children were picked up by their parents, the two rode off into the dusky sunset, awaiting their next adventure... but until then, they lived happily ever after.

The End.

By Miss Chelsea :)