They all returned to the dragon’s apartment.
A moment later, Crubby disappeared through his little door, moving quickly and purposefully.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” he called. “I need to plan the campaign.”
The poor dragon began pacing back and forth. He clasped his paws behind his back, lowered his head, and frowned deeply as he tried to think.
Grandma watched him for a few moments before finally stopping him.
“If we’re going to help you, we need to know something about this enchanted princess of yours. Who is she, and how did she become enchanted?”
The dragon stopped and let out a huge sigh.
“Oh, my scales and my claws,” he said sadly. “It’s a long story, but I suppose you’ll have to know it. It seems rather unfair that I should be such a terrible host, throwing my guests into danger and excitement the moment they enter my home.”
Grandma gave him a sharp look.
“Don’t be ridiculous! We’re looking for excitement.”
“Ah, but you don’t know Dallahan. He’s much more than excitement. He’s almost certain death.”
“Come now,” Grandma said. “Don’t talk like that. Nothing is certain. Stop frightening yourself and tell us about the princess.”
The dragon settled into a huge chair and wrapped his long tail around himself like a cloak.
Grandma, the children, and the dogs gathered around him.
“Well,” the dragon began slowly, “you see, Silver Toes came to me quite unexpectedly. In fact, she was left right on my doorstep.”
“Oh, was she a tiny baby?” Janet Jane asked excitedly. “Was she in a basket?”
“No. She was much too big for a basket. She was sixteen years old when she was left here, and she has been sixteen ever since.”
Johnathan stared at him.
“How could that happen?”
“Enchanted princesses never grow older until their enchantment is broken. Once the spell is broken, they simply pick up their years from where they left off and continue growing just like everyone else.”
Janet Jane’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, that sounds like fun! Suppose we could get enchanted on Christmas Day and stay that age for as long as we wanted!”
“Stop supposing things and interrupting,” Grandma ordered. “Let the dragon finish his story. Every moment matters.”
The dragon sighed and continued.
“It happened on a terrible stormy night. It was bitterly cold. The wind was screaming through the cave, and the river had risen dangerously high. I thought it might overflow its banks at any moment and pour straight into my apartment.
“I was lying there thinking about the future, as I so often do, when I heard something above the noise of the storm.
“It sounded like the beating of enormous wings.
“I thought perhaps it was the great black crow that lives on the battlements of Count Ganneymeade’s castle. Maybe he had come to visit me.
“But when I called his name, there was no answer.
“And then the noise stopped.
“I thought that was very strange, so I wandered out to the entrance of my cave.
“And there I found Princess Silver Toes lying on my doorstep.
“She was wearing a red dress covered with moonstones. She was soaking wet, and her white face was almost completely hidden beneath her long golden hair.
“I lifted her up, carried her inside, and laid her on a couch.
“Her red slippers were soaked, too, so I took them off.
“And that was when I discovered that she had silver toes.”
Janet Jane leaned forward.
“Really silver? Completely silver?”
“Oh, yes. Absolutely real silver.
“That was when I knew who she was.
“She was the daughter of a wealthy old king named Egbert. A river of liquid silver flowed through the courtyard of his castle.”
Johnathan frowned.
“If it was flowing through his courtyard, it must have been quicksilver, right?”
Grandma gave him a stern look.
The dragon shrugged.
“Perhaps. I only know that it was a river of real silver.
“It was filled with silver fish, silver frogs, silver tadpoles, and silver turtles.
“In fact, anything that touched that river immediately turned to silver.
“So King Egbert had strictly warned his daughter never to go near it.
“But one summer afternoon, on an especially hot day, the princess longed to go wading in the river.
“It looked so wonderfully cool.
“And it was all silver.
“When nobody was watching, she sat down beside the river. She took off her slippers and let down her long hair.
“Then she happily dipped her little pink toes into the silver stream.
“Oh, how wonderful the cool silver water felt as it flowed between her toes!
“She was instantly refreshed.
“But when she tried to move her feet, she discovered that she couldn’t.
“She pulled them out in alarm.
“And there they were.
“Her toes had turned to silver.”
Janet Jane gasped.
“She must have been frightened!”
“She certainly was,” said the dragon.
“She knew she had disobeyed her father, who was a very strict and serious man. She was sure she would be punished severely.
“She quickly put her red slippers back on, hoping to hide her silver toes.
“Then she tucked her long hair beneath her cap.
“But she soon discovered that walking with silver toes was terribly painful.
“This was especially unfortunate because she normally flew across the marble floors of the castle as lightly as a bird.
“That very evening, there was a grand ball in her honor.
“When she tried to dance with a young prince, she could do nothing but hop around like a frog.
“Of course, everyone noticed.
“And the old king was furious.”
“What did he do?” Peter asked.
“When he learned that she had disobeyed him, he locked her inside a tall silver tower and hid her away from the world.
“He never intended to keep her there forever. He loved her far too much for that.
“But only a few days after he locked her away, something terrible happened.
“He was thrown from his horse during a hunt and was killed instantly.
“Then his enemies attacked and destroyed his castle.
“His household scattered.
“And Silver Toes was forgotten in her tall silver tower.
“For food, a green cockatoo came from the forest carrying little baskets made of leaves.
“He brought her pomegranates, purple figs, and wild yellow honey.
“And so she lived alone and sadly for a year and three days.
“Then an evil old witch came wandering past the tower.
“She heard Silver Toes crying.
“The old woman was an enchantress, and she was always looking for something to enchant, rather like people who are always looking for an argument.
“So she changed herself into a fat black bumblebee.
“She flew to the top of the silver tower and slipped through the narrow window.
“She landed on Silver Toes’ hand and stung her between the thumb and first finger.
“Then she cast a spell on her.
“First, she changed Silver Toes into a tiny thistledown seed so she could carry her safely down to the ground.”
“What happened next?” Janet Jane asked.
“When the witch reached her home on the other side of the green cockatoo’s forest, she changed Silver Toes back into a princess.
“Then she cast a sleeping spell over her.
“She stood the sleeping princess in a corner of the room.
“Next, she opened an old iron chest covered with cobwebs.
“Inside were beautiful clothes.
“She dressed the sleeping Silver Toes in a red robe covered with magical moonstones.
“Then she dressed her in a green robe covered with pink carnelians.
“After that came a yellow robe decorated with cat’s-eye emeralds.
“And finally, a lilac robe covered with aquamarines.”
Janet Jane sighed dreamily.
“What a strange but lovely idea.”
“Yes, it was,” the dragon agreed.
“The old witch kept Silver Toes as a beautiful plaything.
“She dressed her just as you might dress your favorite doll, Janet Jane.
“The wonderful clothes had been stolen from gypsies, pirates, and silk merchants from the magical cities of the far East.
“You see, the old woman was terribly ugly, and she wanted to surround herself with beautiful things.
“That was one of her better qualities.”
Grandma nodded thoughtfully.
“She sounds rather sad.”
“She was, in a way,” the dragon said. “Mostly because she was terribly lonely.
“But to continue…
“After a while, the old witch grew tired of simply looking at the princess.
“She wanted to hear Silver Toes sing.
“So she removed the spell that kept Silver Toes from speaking.
“But she left the sleeping spell in place.
“That meant Silver Toes could sing beautiful songs about long-ago times, but she remained completely unconscious.”
Johnathan blinked.
“So it was like talking in your sleep?”
“Exactly,” said the dragon. “Exactly.
“Silver Toes would sing one ballad after another while the old witch bent over her steaming cauldrons, mixing strange magical potions.
“The witch could make the princess sing whenever she wanted.
“She treated her almost like a mechanical toy.”
“More like a radio,” Peter said.
Grandma immediately hushed him.
The dragon continued.
“One day, the witch decided to take the princess outside for some fresh air.
“She noticed that Silver Toes was becoming as pale as wax.
“The poor girl had been standing in the corner of that dark kitchen for so long, breathing the fumes from the witch’s cauldrons.
“So the witch took away the spell on her legs, allowing her to walk again.
“Then they went outside.
“They entered a thick, black forest.
“It was so dark beneath the trees that they barely noticed the storm building overhead.
“They had not gone far when the storm finally broke.
“Oh, what a storm it was!
“I have never forgotten it.
“The rain came down so hard that I thought it might even put out the fire inside the volcano.
“The thunder shook everything around us, and the lightning seemed to tear the sky apart.
“The old witch became confused and almost blind in the heavy rain.
“And Silver Toes saw her chance.
“She ran.”
“Hurray!” Peter shouted.
Grandma quickly covered his mouth with one hand.
The dragon went on.
“The witch became even more confused.
“She began shouting all kinds of strange words and trying all sorts of spells.
“‘Mumblegum! Bubblebug! Itchibib! Snatcharib! Prancapup!’
“They were all perfectly good magic words.
“But none of the spells worked because of the rain.
“The witch became frantic because she suddenly felt powerless.
“And the more frantic she became, the faster she tried to run.
“That only made things worse.
“She would run six steps and then slide seven steps backward.
“She wasn’t getting anywhere at all.
“By the time Silver Toes had completely disappeared from sight, the witch finally managed to regain control of herself.
“Then she attached bat wings to her heels and flew after the princess.”
Janet Jane’s eyes became enormous.
“Oh, no! Did she catch her again?”
“She almost did!
“But the storm saved Silver Toes.
“Just as the witch was about to catch her, a huge fork of lightning struck a juniper tree.
“The tree crashed down directly onto the old witch’s head.
“It killed her instantly.
“And at that very moment, I heard Silver Toes scream.
“She collapsed at the entrance to my cave.”
Johnathan looked at the dragon.
“Was she still enchanted?”
“Oh, yes.
“As soon as she opened her eyes, she began singing.
“She sang her entire story from beginning to end.
“She sang about dipping her toes into the silver river.
“She sang about being locked in the tower.
“She sang about the old witch and the forest.
“And she sang all the way up to the moment she collapsed on my doorstep.
“And she sang the entire story in rhyme.”
Janet Jane breathed out in amazement.
“She must have been very talented.”
“She certainly was,” the dragon said with a deep sigh.
“And I grew to love that child in her beautiful red robe with the magical moonstones.
“You see, I was terribly lonely.
“My beautiful mother had just been killed.
“And—and…”
Tears gathered in the dragon’s eyes.
“And I had hoped to keep Silver Toes as my companion when I grew old.
“But—but now she has been stolen from me.
“Stolen!
“Stolen away!
“And it’s all my fault!
“I left her alone and ran off into the future!”
The dragon suddenly jumped to his feet and began pacing again.
“Oh, my scaly tail! I have to find her!
“I have to!
“I have to!”
He completely lost control of himself.
His tail whipped wildly through the air.
He wrung his paws.
His scales stood on end.
Grandma and the children had to scramble out of his way.
Even flames began leaping uncontrollably from his mouth.
At that moment, Crubby returned.
He was wearing a tiny suit of chain mail.
He said only one word.
“Dragon.”
The enormous beast immediately became quiet.
It was almost as if someone had pulled a cord.
He seemed to collapse like a telescope folding in on itself.
Suddenly he looked smaller.
And very, very meek.
“Yes, Crubby,” he said humbly. “What have you decided we should do?”
“The first thing is to go to Allan the armorer and have your friends fitted with armor.
“They certainly can’t go into battle with a dragon dressed in nothing but their nightgowns.”
Peter’s eyes widened.
“Real armor?
“Real, real armor?”
“Yes, yes,” Crubby snapped.
“Now hurry!
“Quick!”
He clapped his tiny hands together.
The children and dogs immediately began rushing around.
They had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, but they were certainly doing it as fast as they could.
“Get on my back,” said the dragon. “We’re going to Allan the armorer.”
Grandma decided to leave her famous rocking chair behind.
It would only get in the way, and there was always the chance that it might be lost.
Instead, she grabbed her mysterious knitting bag.
She was the first to climb onto the dragon’s back.
The children and dogs followed immediately.
Crubby climbed into position behind the dragon’s ear so he could shout directions.
Peter thought this was probably why he had chosen that spot.
Then they rushed out of the cave.
They moved so quickly that everyone lost their breath.