Flame Breath Fred and the Christmas Festival

This is a fun little Christmas story written by James who runs this site! Join Fred, the rather big, but friendly dragon as he meets the people of Littlewick during their Christmas festival.

Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived a big red dragon. He was called Flame Breath Fred and he was a very friendly dragon. He lived in the high snowy mountains. Although it was cold where he lived, he could keep himself warm by using his big, warm dragon flame breath.

In a valley in the mountains, where Flame Breath Fred lived, was the village of Littlewick. The people who lived in the village saw Fred flying around and they were all scared him. They thought because he was big and red and sometimes had a roar (Fred's way of singing) that he was a nasty and mean dragon! None of them had ever tried to talk to Fred and see what he was really like.

Flame Breath Fred wanted to be friends with the villagers. But every time he flew near Littlewick, the mayor Ivor Bignose, told the villagers to ring the bells. When they heard the bells the people would run and hide in their homes!

Every year Littlewick held a big Christmas festival. People, from all over the mountains, came together to have a big party and eat lots of Christmas food!

Flame Breath Fred could smell all the yummy food being cooked at the Christmas Festival. He really wanted to try the different Christmas dishes. But the people in the village would run away if he flew near them. So he had to stay at home and munch on some old, and very chewy, rats that he'd found to eat!

One Christmas it was once again time for the Littlewick Christmas Festival. The Mayor arrived for his most important job of the year. It was lighting the big gas stoves that cooked all the Christmas food.

Mayor Ivor Bignose was dressed in all his poshest clothes with his big Mayor's chain round his neck. He stepped forward in the village square and very pompously said 'I declare that the big gas stoves are lit!'.

He pushed the button to light the stoves - but nothing happened!!! So he tried once more. He cleared his throat (cough cough) and said in an even louder and more pompous voice 'I, Ivor Bignose the Mayor of Littlewick, declare that the big gas stoves are lit!'.

He tried pushing the button again. But still - nothing happened. There were no flames, not even a little spark!

He looked very silly pushing the button and with nothing happening. All the people from the village were there. As well as lots of important people from all the mountain valleys watching him. The Mayor was very upset.

He called for the village fixer-upper, Sally Spanner, to check that the stoves were working. Sally arrived and had a good look at all the stoves. They were all ok, but she found one big problem! She rather nervously went up to the Mayor and said 'Excuse me, Mr Bignose, I mean your Mayoral worship sir. I've found why the stoves won't light. There's no gas coming through to the stoves.'

'NO GAS!' The Mayor said very loudly. 'How can that be?'

But then the Mayor's secretary, Nicholas Notebook, quietly whispered in the Mayor's ear. 'Your worshipful Mayoral worship, sir. Don't you remember that at the last village meeting I said the Gas bill had come and that it was a final red one? You said that you'd pay it. Did you pay it Mr your worshipfulness Mr Mayor sir?'

Oh dear! It seems that with all the important jobs of being Mayor, Ivor Bignose had forgotten to pay the gas bill. The gas to the Littlewick big gas stoves had been cut off!

The Mayor was very embarrassed about this and nearly went as red as the final gas bill had been.

While this was happening, Fred was on his daily flight, getting some exercise and trying to find a few rats for lunch. He'd seen lots of people going to Littlewick and wondered what was happening. To get a better look he flew lower (Fred felt extra brave today). To his surprise, the bells didn't start ringing and none of the villagers ran into their houses.

This made Fred even more brave. He landed on the edge of the village and started walking towards the village square. The streets were empty, but he could see lots of people in the village square. The people all seemed upset about something.

Fred heard people saying things like 'no Christmas festival this year' and 'what a disaster'. The people were so busy talking, that they didn't notice a big red, but very friendly dragon walking about!

Flame Breath Fred tapped one of the villagers on the shoulder and said 'What's going on?' in his most polite and friendly voice. 'Where have you been?' said a rather grumpy villager (he hadn't seen it was a dragon he was talking to yet!), 'Our silly Mayor, Ivor Bignose, forgot to pay the gas bill so we can't cook any food for the Christmas festival!'.

'Oh that's a shame.' Fred said, “I'd love to try some Christmas food, I think it would be much nicer than rats'.

'RATS!' replied the villager who then turned round and saw Fred standing there! The villager nearly jumped out of his skin! Then more people turned round and saw Fred.

They were all scared seeing Fred standing there as they thought he might eat them. They were also very surprised when he said 'Hello I'm Flame Breath Fred, but you can call me Fred! Don't be scared of me, I'm really a very friendly dragon. I saw you all down here and wondered what was going on. I've wanted to visit the village and to say hello for a long time, but you always ran away.'

Sally Spanner was the bravest of all the villagers. She came out to the front to speak to Fred. (The Mayor was hiding at the back because he was very sacred of Fred!). Sally said 'H-H-H-Hello Fred, I'm Sally. You really are very big and red aren't you! Please don't eat us!'.

'I don't want to eat you.' said Fred, 'I rather have some Christmas food but it doesn't look you can cook any.'

Then Sally had a bit of a brainwave and asked Fred 'Would you like to cook the food for the Christmas festival? We haven't got any gas, but with your flame breath you could heat up all the big gas stoves!'

Flame Breath Fred thought this this was a good idea and said 'OK, but I'd like to try some of the Christmas food please!'

So Sally arranged a special funnel so Fred's flame breath could go down the gas pipes. He breathed out his biggest and best flame breaths and heated up all the big gas stoves. The Christmas food was cooked perfectly. Nothing was burnt - not even from dragon's breath!

During the Christmas festival, the people had a chance to meet Fred. They found he wasn't scary at all but was a very friendly dragon.

Flame Breath Fred was very good at cooking the Christmas food. Now his flame breath is used to cook all the food at the Littlewick Christmas Festival every year.

The Mayor is very happy because he doesn't have to pay for gas to heat the big gas stoves at the festival. Sally is very happy because she gets to help work with a dragon. And Fred is very happy because he became friends will all the people in the village.

So if you ever see a dragon flying over where you live, don't worry. It's probably looking for some Christmas food (or possibly rats!).