“Oh—oh!” Peter cried in surprise. “You’re—you’re not the Princess, are you?”
“No,” said the red dragon in a small, weak voice. “I’m—I’m just Dallahan.”
Peter immediately grabbed his sword and held it ready to defend himself.
“But—but you’re so tiny!” he said. “You don’t look anything like a real dragon.”
“I—I am little now,” Dallahan whimpered. “That horrible old Mig did this to me. He squeezed me into that box and made me feel so small that I’ve lost all my courage. Please put away your sword. I’m completely harmless now.”
Peter instantly felt sorry for him. He lowered his sword and stepped closer to the poor little red dragon.
“I’m very sorry,” Peter said. “You see, I thought you were dangerous.”
“I was,” Dallahan replied. “I really was, before that awful magician made me feel so small.”
“That’s rather how my dragon felt when I first found him,” Peter began explaining.
Dallahan suddenly interrupted him.
“Your dragon? Who is your dragon?” he asked, frowning.
“The cave dragon,” Peter said. “I think that’s what everyone around here calls him.”
“Oh, that one,” Dallahan said, shaking his head.
“Do you know him?” Peter asked.
“Do I know him?” Dallahan cried. “I stole the Princess away from him, didn’t I?”
He looked so miserable that Peter almost felt sorry for him.
“He used to be such a good friend of mine when we were boys, before I moved to Ireland. I shouldn’t have played such a mean trick on an old childhood friend, should I?”
His Irish accent trembled sadly as he spoke.
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Peter agreed solemnly.
“Well, I’ve paid for what I did,” Dallahan sighed, looking down at his tiny body with deep self-pity.
“And now I’m ready to make things right. We have to find that miserable little Mig, rescue the Princess, and take her back to the cave dragon who loves her with all his heart.”
Peter’s head was spinning. The whole story had become so strange and mixed up that he could hardly keep track of what was happening.
“But the cave dragon has gone to Ireland to find you,” Peter explained. “He went there to make you give the Princess back.”
“Has he?” Dallahan said.
For a moment, some of his old confidence returned. He suddenly stretched nearly two feet taller.
“Well, that would have been a fine thing if I were still my old self! One blow from me and—”
But suddenly Dallahan shrank again, and the extra two feet disappeared as quickly as they had come.
“So he’s gone to Ireland, has he?” Dallahan said sadly. “That’s too bad. He made the whole journey for nothing.”
Peter looked up the road leading toward Giggletown. The sun was already high, and several large black crows had flown down to inspect the blue box. Crows are always curious about strange things.
Peter turned back to Dallahan.
“What are we supposed to do now?” he asked worriedly.
“We must find Mig,” Dallahan answered. “That’s the first thing. Can you run fast?”
“Not very fast,” Peter admitted.
Dallahan thought about it for a moment.
“I’d carry you on my back, but I feel so small and crushed right now that I don’t think I’m strong enough. Perhaps as we run along, I’ll become more confident. Maybe that will help straighten me out a little.”
“Do we have to run all the way up that hill?” Peter asked, pointing toward the road.
“Yes. That’s the only way to Giggletown.”
Dallahan turned around.
“But run backward like this. Then it will feel as though you’re running downhill, and it won’t be nearly so tiring.”
He started running backward up the road, with his tail going first.
Peter took a deep breath and hurried after him, running backward too.