The Dragon of Leanderland By K H Ditchfield Once upon a time there was a tiny kingdom by the sea called Leanderland. >>> a ‘setting the scene’ image. Zoomed out, looking from the sea towards the coastline. Small town perched right on the seafront. Sunny, blue sea , happy/vibrant colours etc. Suggestion of a palace in the middle of the town. It was a happy land, ruled over by a happy king called Postello and his queen called Rainbow, they also had a beautiful daughter called Winsome. The only thing that spoilt their complete happiness was the fact that up in the hills behind the town lived… a dragon. >>> king/queen/princess in their finery (Queen Rainbow should definitely wear a rainbow dress!) on a palace balcony, maybe waving to their people? Smiling etc. In the background, in the distance up in the hills behind, a greyer/sadder looking place. Suggestion of a dark cave there (but no dragon, save that for ‘a big reveal’ later!) The dragon never came down to the town in fact if the townspeople had forgotten all about it, it would have probably forgotten about them, but people being what they are, the fact that the dragon was there seemed to be a great cause of annoyance. So the king issued a decree. Anyone who could capture the dragon would be rewarded with a huge bag of gold, and this news was spread far and wide. >>> a royal servant nailing a fancily scribed decree onto some sort of notice board/plaque in a town square, with a crowd of townspeople eagerly peering to see what’s written on it. Of course this news brought many young princes and knights on their prancing horses, with their shining armour, all of whom thought that it would be easy to capture the dragon. >>> a handsome, young knight in embellished armour, proud, looking confident and determined, on a perfect white horse, riding uphill. Huge fancy sword. But when the dragon saw them riding up the hills towards his cave he came out and roared and breathed long tongues of fire at them, so they all turned tail and fled. >>> first view of the dragon – him coming out of his cave breathing huge flames towards the comparatively tiny knight. Knight looking timid, small and defeated. Dragon looking really scary and evil. King Postello was getting more and more desperate. He said to Queen Rainbow ‘we shall have to offer more than gold for capturing the dragon’. ‘But what else is there?’ replied the Queen. ‘Well the only other thing that could encourage all the princes and knights is the hand of our beautiful princess Winsome in marriage’. ‘Oh! No, not our lovely daughter’ gasped the Queen. ‘They all are very handsome young men you know’ said Postello. ‘I know, but oh! If you absolutely insist’. So it was arranged, a huge bag of gold and the fair hand of the beautiful Princess Winsome in marriage. >>> king/queen/princess in their palace in a fancy room. Queen and princess sitting on a fancy couch, queen’s arm round princess, both looking concerned and towards the king. King pacing around looking exasperated, arms animatedly expressing what he’s telling his wife/daughter. Of course more and more handsome young princes came to try their luck against the dragon, but none got past those roaring flames that the dragon shot out every time he opened his huge jaws.
>>> second view of the dragon. Looking even bigger and scarier than the first time. This time a fancily dressed prince running away from cave, a different weapon to the first knight (spear?) in hand, dragon breathing even more/bigger flames towards him. Until one day a beggar arrived in the town. ‘Can you direct me to the Kings palace?’ he asked a passing policeman. The policeman laughed ‘They’ll not let a beggar like you into the palace’. But he told him the way >>> Shabbily dressed beggar speaking to policeman in the street. Policeman laughing mockingly at the beggar. ... and shortly afterwards the beggar was knocking at the palace gates. ‘Be off with you, we don’t have beggars here’ shouted the sentry. ‘But I want to see the King’ said the beggar. >>> beggar at fancy palace gates. Huge gates, beggar looking small and feable. Tall armoured sentry pointing the beggar away, looking cross. ‘No chance - no chance at all’, and the sentry turned away. While his back was turned the beggar quietly squeezed through the palace gates and ran towards the palace itself. Now the King just happened to be walking in the palace gardens and seeing him, the beggar rushed up to him, ‘Sire’ he said, ‘Your Majesty, if I capture the dragon I beg leave to return to the palace for the bag of gold and the hand of the beautiful Princess Winsome in marriage’. The King went red in the face. ‘Why, you!’ he spluttered; ‘a beggar!’, the King went even redder, ‘you’ve no chance of capturing the dragon and even less chance of marrying my daughter’. ‘When I’ve captured the dragon Sire, I shall be back’, said the beggar quietly and with a deep bow he went back through the gates and out of the palace. >>> beggar and king in beautiful palace garden, having conversation. King red in the face and looking taken aback, dressed in finery. Beggar shabbily dressed, looking calm and collected. The beggar then went to the shop that sold garden machinery and said to the man there. ‘Have you a wheelbarrow that you don’t want?’, ‘Ive got that rusty one over there’, replied the man, ‘you can have that’. >>> beggar walking along street to gardening shop. Gardening shop front, products hanging in the window on display/outside the shop. >>> beggar in shop, friendly shop owner pointing to rusty old wheelbarrow in dark corner. So the beggar took the wheelbarrow and went to the shop that sold lengths of rope. ‘Can you let me have a short length of rope?’ he asked the man there. ‘Have you no money?’ said the man. ‘No Im sorry, I haven’t. ‘I’ve an old piece over there, you can have that for nothing’. He was a kind man and was feeling very sorry for the beggar in his tatty old clothes. >>> beggar in neat hardware store, kind shop owner pointing to straggly piece of rope hanging in dark corner. So the beggar put the coil of rope into the wheelbarrow and wheeled it away. Next he went to the sweet shop. ‘Do you sell toffee apples’ he asked the man in the shop. ‘Oh yes’, replied the man, ‘I make them myself’ and he showed the beggar some toffee apples about the size of a real apple. >>> beggar in sweet shop, jars of sweets floor to ceiling. Shop owner showing beggar tray of normal toffee apples from behind the counter. ‘Very nice’ said the beggar, ‘but can you make them as big as a football?’ ‘As big as a football?’ laughed the sweetshop man, ‘I suppose I could, I’ve never tried to make them as big as that’. ‘Well can you make me one as big as that?’ ‘Go on then, Ill make one as big as a football, it will be fun to make one as big as that’. ‘When can you make it’ asked the beggar. ‘Ill make it tonight and then it
will be ready by tomorrow morning’. ‘Thank you very much’ said the beggar, ‘Ill pick it up in the morning’. ‘Why do you want one as big as that?’ asked the sweetshop man as the beggar turned to go. ‘Ah! I can’t tell you that’ replied the beggar ‘but I can assure you it will make your sweetshop very famous’. ‘In that case, I’ll make it you for nothing’, chuckled the man. ‘Thank you again’ said the beggar very politely and he made his way out of the shop. >>> beggar still in sweet shop, demonstrating width of a football with hands raised to the shop owner, excitedly. Shop owner behind the counter, laughing, but friendly. The following morning the beggar arrived early at the sweetshop and picked up the lovely big toffee apple that the sweetshop man had made. It was indeed as big as a football and the beggar put it into his wheelbarrow on top of the coil of rope. Then away he went, pushing the wheelbarrow up the hill towards the cave where the dragon lived. >>> beggar wheeling barrow uphill, with big impressive shiny toffee apple in it. Eventually he reached the top of the hill and stopped a little away from the dragons cave. ‘Hello there, hello dragon’ he called. The dragon rushed out of his cave roaring and gnarling with flames shooting out of his mouth, although the flames didn’t quite reach the beggar who had stopped just far enough away to avoid them. >>> beggar at cave’s approach, wheelbarrow parked next to him, apple still in it. Dragon looking the most furious we’ve seen him yet. Breathing huge flames towards beggar. ‘Dragon’ shouted the beggar, ‘Ive got something for you’. ‘What is it?’, thundered the dragon. ‘It’s a toffee apple, look, Ill roll it towards you’, and then the beggar tipped the toffee apple out of the wheelbarrow and rolled it towards the dragon. >>> dragon looking puzzled and suspicious, beggar tipping apple out towards dragon. No flames. Now not many people know this, but dragons have a very sweet tooth and seeing the toffee apple rolling towards him the dragon opened his mouth wide so that the apple could roll into it. And it did… thwack!! It stuck between his jaws. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever had a huge sweet in your mouth, maybe a sticky toffee, it’s too big to swallow, and stuck against your teeth so that you can’t crunch it, well that’s exactly what happened to the dragon. He couldn’t close his mouth, he couldn’t open it any further, he couldn’t breathe flames because the toffee apple was in the way, in fact he was, for the moment… helpless. >>> dragon crouching forwards, with neck and mouth resting on floor, apple in mouth. Quick as a flash, the beggar rushed up to the dragon and wound his coil of rope round the dragons jaws, so that the dragon was completely harmless, toffee apple stuck inside his jaws, the rope wrapped around the outside of his jaws and in this way the beggar led the dragon down the hill to the town. >>> beggar leading dragon downhill with rope – rope around dragon’s mouth. Apple wedged in dragon’s mouth. Beggar looking happy. There was of course a great hullabaloo in the town as the beggar and the dragon entered the town. Straight up to the palace they went. ‘Sire’, said the beggar, ‘here is the dragon, ‘I have come for the bag of gold and the hand of the beautiful princess winsome’. >>> beggar presenting dragon to king, who is standing on palace balcony looking down to beggar. King looking surprised. Crowds of townspeople all around staring and pointing up at dragon.
The King just didn’t know what to say, ‘well, err… well, err’ he spluttered going redder and redder in the face. ‘Here is the gold but as regards to my daughter, ‘well, err!’ he gasped again. ‘Perhaps if the Princess were to kiss me’, smiled the beggar. ‘Im afraid I shall have to’, the Princess had joined them and she went up to the beggar with a look of grim determination on her face. The beggar very gently kissed her and… >>> now in front of palace gates, beggar holding bag of gold. King red in face, looking stressed. Beggar kissing beautiful, fancily dressed princess, on cheek. ...lo and behold there was a sharp puff of smoke... >>> minimal page with only these words on it. Some sort of magical glittery smoke cloud. ...and where a moment had stood the beggar, there now stood a handsome young knight in shining silver armour. ‘You see’ said the knight, ‘all is not what it seems, even the dragon is not the fierce beast that everyone thinks he is’, and the knight uncoiled the rope from around the dragons jaws and slowly pulled the toffee apple out of his mouth. The dragon looked puzzled and the people who had gathered around backed away hurriedly with a lot of ‘oohs!’ and ‘aahs!’. ‘How would you like to live down here with us?’ said the young knight to the dragon. ‘If the Princess will marry me you can have a big field all to yourself and I will bring you your favourite food every day and a toffee apple once a week’. The dragon nodded his head because as the knight had realised, all that was wrong with the dragon was that he was lonely and the idea of having the Princess and the knight as his friends appealed to him very much. >>> armoured handsome young knight in position of beggar. Holding princess’ hand. Rope and apple on floor. Dragon looking puzzled, but friendly and thankful. Knight facing dragon in conversation with him. Townspeople crowd in background. So the Princess and the knight got married. The dragon lived in his field, with a big hut in one corner for wintery weather, and as they say in all of the best fairy stories, they all lived happily every after. >>> dragon in lush green field, big wooden hut in corner, sun shining. Dragon looks happy and friendly now, not evil like before. Maybe a few sheep and cows happily grazing around seeming very small next to dragon. Town in background, but close to the field.