Derek had a magic stick. His stick was a very magical thing. He had found it at the edge of the deep woods one day and it could be anything that he could think of, a fishing pole, or a sword, or a hammer or a choo-choo train or anything else that he wanted it to be. Sometimes it was just a stick. His mommy said that he had a good imagination, whatever that was.

One day a traveler came through the village where Derek lived. The traveler had some bad news. He said that there was a fierce dragon that was scaring the whole kingdom. He said that the dragon was stealing the farmers' cows and sheep and other things as well. It was being a very bad dragon. He also said that the king had said that he would give a reward to anyone who could get rid of the bad dragon.

Everyone in the village thought that it was terrible that a bad dragon had come to the kingdom. Everybody said that someone should do something about it.

Derek thought about it for a while and decided that he would have to do something about the bad dragon. But when he told his mommy that he was going to do something about the dragon, his mommy looked very worried and said, "No! Derek! You must not try! The dragon is very big and very mean."

"But Mommy," Derek said, "the sorcerer was big and mean. And I rescued Daddy from him and got rid of him, too."

"But the dragon is even bigger than a house, Derek," his mother said. "He is much too big for even ten men to fight. You must not try to do anything about the dragon."

"All right, Mommy," Derek said.

His mommy looked relieved and smiled at him and told him to go outside and play.

Derek couldn't help thinking about the dragon. And the people in the village kept talking about it. Finally, Derek decided that he had to do something about it. So he waited until his daddy was off at work and his mommy was inside working. Then he got his magic stick and set out.

He knew that there were two different roads that led to the king's castle. One road circled around the small woods to the north and led to the castle. The other road led around the small woods to the south and led to the castle. But everyone said that it was much shorter if you went through the small woods. But they also said that the small woods could be dangerous with lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

Derek decided that he didn't want to have to walk all of the way around the small woods so he would just walk right through them. That way, he thought, he could be at the king's castle very soon.

It wasn't long before Derek decided that the small woods was not a good name for these woods, they were much bigger that he had thought that they could be. It wasn't long before Derek found himself getting hungry. He hadn't brought anything to eat because he had not thought that it would be so far. He was lucky that he found some berries that he could eat.

It was very late in the day when Derek came out the other side of the small woods. Off in the far distance, he could see the top of the king's castle. It was much too far away to walk to before dark, besides, Derek was tired. So he found a farm house and asked if he could stay there that night. The farmer's wife was a very nice lady who gave him something to eat and let him sleep in their house that night.

The next morning, Derek set off for the castle. It was the middle of the day when Derek reached the king's castle. At the front door was a guard who laughed when Derek told him that he had come to get rid of the dragon for the king. He said, "Come on in, I am sure that the king would like to meet such a small hero!"

When they went before the king, the king asked, "What have we here?"

The guard laughed and said, "Your majesty, this is Derek. He has come to get rid of the dragon."

The king laughed and said, "You are a very brave little boy. But the dragon is much too big and mean for such a small boy. Go back home to your parents. I am sure that they are worried about you."

The guard led Derek back to the door and told him, "Go on back home. But whatever you do, don't go that way." He pointed to the other side of the castle. "That is where the dragon lives," he said.

Derek walked off and as soon as he was out of the guard's sight, he headed for where the dragon lived. But he was tired from walking all morning, so his stick became a very fine horse for him to ride.

It wasn't long before he came to a small hill. On top of the hill, the dragon was sleeping. The dragon was huge. Derek had not known that anything could be so big. But he had come too far to go away without trying. So he marched up the hill to where the dragon was sleeping. Up close, it was even bigger. A puff of smoke came out of the dragon's nose every time that he breathed. It was scary!

But Derek worked up his courage and walked up to the dragon. His magic stick became a shining sword and he whacked the dragon on the nose with it.

The dragon opened one eye and looked at Derek. His eye was bigger than Derek's head.

Derek whacked the dragon on the nose again with his sword.

The dragon opened his other eye and raised his head up just a little way above Derek's head. "Why did you hit me on the nose little boy?" the dragon asked.

"I've come to make you leave the kingdom!" Derek said.

"But why would you want me to leave the kingdom?" the dragon asked.

"Because you have been very mean and everyone is afraid of you," Derek said. He didn't tell the dragon that he was very much afraid of him, too.

"Why do you say that I have been mean? And why are people afraid of me?" the dragon asked.

"Because you have been stealing the farmers' cows and other things, too. And that is not being nice," Derek said.

"I didn't know that I was being mean," the dragon said. "I'm sorry. I only took the cows because I was hungry."

"Well, when you take something that doesn't belong to you, that is stealing. And stealing is not nice. If you want something, you have to pay for it."

"How could I pay for anything, I don't have any money," the dragon said.

"Then you simply shall have to get a job. I'm sure that the king can help you if you promise to be nice," Derek said.

"All right. Let's go see the king, now. Hop up here on my neck behind my head and I will give you a ride."

Derek climbed up and the dragon spread his wings and took off. They flew toward the castle and soon came to a landing at the castle and everyone came out to see what was happening. Even the king came out.

The dragon said, "Derek explained to me that I was being mean. I didn't know that I was wrong. I'm sorry and I won't do it again. But Derek said that you might help me get a job so that I could buy what I need."

The king was very surprised and very happy. He gave the dragon a job. Then he gave Derek a big reward and had his soldiers give him a ride home in his carriage.

Everyone in the village was very proud of Derek and he went on to have a lot more adventures in the time to come.