Peliana and Countess Caladera’s dragon

This story was an entry to Once Upon A Time - My Fairy Tale Contest held in December 2020, and won the top prize in the ages 8-10 category. In the competition, any story around fairytales could be submitted with a word limit of 600. Presented below is the prize-winning story. 

Peliana and Countess Caladera’s dragon

By Avyaya Iyer

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl named Peliana. She lived in a hut, miles away, on the edge of the countryside in Devonshire. 

One day, Peliana was making a lovely, warm tomato soup for her dinner, but she wanted to add some veggies to the soup. “Oh! I need vegetables! Corn, broccoli, tomato! And maybe I can add a bit of pasta too.” Peliana mumbled to herself. She swung open the fridge door and checked if she had some veggies. Turns out, there were no veggies at all! Peliana needed to find some veggies. 

Peliana went outside, in the fresh Dartmoor air. She found a small store selling corn. 

“Hi,” Peliana said, to the owner of the shop. “can I please have 10 pieces of corn?”. 

“Yes, yes, sure,” replied a beautiful lady wearing a gorgeous gown, a perfect bun in her hair, a pinch of lipstick on her lips, a tawny coloured cheek and her ears sported big, circle earrings. 

“I am Countess Caladera. I will give you 10 corns, but if you give me 1 extra pound, then I can show you a surprise you might want to see”

“Oh, Your Majesty, Countess Caladera”

“Don’t be formal, call me Cally”

“OK, Cally, here is an extra pound. May I please see the surprise?”

Cally grabbed a bright, iridescent, polished egg, shining radiantly.

Peliana was amazed at the sight of this wonderful creation. “Is this a dragon egg??” asked Peliana, inquisitively.

“Brilliant guess, but it’s the egg of an evil dragon. I found the egg in a cave of dark spirits. If you touch the egg, you will be cursed, but as a trained Countess, if I touch it, then I will not be cursed,”

“I understand, Your Majesty, but can I please just touch it?” pleaded Peliana, who was still stuck by the radiance of the dragon’s egg.

“No, you must not, for your own safety” 

“Okay,” said Peliana. She took her 10 corns, went home and made her soup at her hut, but she could not get the dragon’s egg out of her curious mind.

She could not hold her temptation back. In the middle of the night, Peliana woke from her bed and tiptoed to the store and unlocked the door to the store with her collection of keys. Cally turned out to be asleep, so Peliana searched for the egg in the shelves and found it. After only a moment’s thought, she grabbed the egg. Immediately she felt a strong force pushing her and she fell backwards screaming with pain. 

The Countess woke up, and understood what happened. She shouted at Peliana “I told you not to touch it! Now stand back while I mend matters”. Cally cast a powerful spell to make Peliana better, and took the egg and safely put it away. In a few minutes, Peliana recovered. “Thanks, Your Majesty! I am sorry for not taking your advice.” 

“You’re welcome, but I hope you will not do it again!”

Now, both Countess Caladera and Peliana lived happily ever after. 

The End