Shortlisted
The New Tales of the Great Wall
Theo Cheng,
ong ago there was a gigantic, blue and gold dragon who lived in China. His body was as long as a
country. His scales were shiny like silver, but soft like ribbon. His teeth were sharp as a knight’s sword.
He had huge wings, like a bat.
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Group 1: Fiction, Clearwater Bay School
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Every day the dragon took care of the people in the village. He protected them, and made rain for
growing plants.
After a thousand years the dragon felt tired and wanted to sleep. But when he tried, the people in the village
always came to bother him. So he decided to look for somewhere nice to sleep.
He flew high into the sky and all the way to the jungle. The jungle was green wet and hot. It was quiet until
a bunch of monkeys started shouting and jumping up and down. The dragon said "It's too noisy! I can’t sleep
here!" so he flew to another place.
The dragon found a hot, dry desert and saw a viper crawling in the sand. The viper had sharp teeth and a
strange tongue. "Is it comfortable here?" said the dragon. The viper said "yessssssssssssssssss." "Ok ," said the
dragon. But after 2 hours a bunch of camels rushed past and the sun was too hot so the dragon said, "It's too hot
here." And flew away to find a new place to sleep.
Next, the dragon flew north to the arctic. It was quiet and beautiful. Everything was white and nothing
moved. The dragon said "it's so peaceful here." But after 3 hours he was cold. He asked a polar bear "is it cold
here all the time?" "Yes," said the polar bear. So the dragon said "it’s too cold here. I can't sleep." And he flew
away.
The dragon flew to the sky and said to a bird, "Is it comfortable here?" The bird said "Yes it is so beautiful.
You can see the whole world down there." So the dragon slept there for 4 hours. But suddenly a storm came and
the dragon woke up. Thunder flashed brightly and lightning boomed loudly. "It's too loud, I don't want to sleep
here!" he said, so he flew away.
Finally the dragon flew to the mountains. It was quiet and cool. He lay down across the hills and fell asleep.
His soft skin became hard grey stones and his body stayed on the mountains up and down across China. And
that's where the Great Wall came from. So when you visit the Great Wall, be quiet - the dragon is still sleeping!
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