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The Reluctant Dragon is an 1898
1898 in literature

The year 1898 in literature involved some significant new books....
 children's story
Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres....
 by Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame was a United Kingdom writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon, which was much later adapted into a Disney film....
 (originally published as a chapter in his book Dream Days
Dream Days

Dream Days is a collection of children's literature and reminiscences of childhood written by Kenneth Grahame. A sequel to Grahame's 1895 in literature collection The Golden Age , Dream Days was first published in 1898 in literature under the imprint The Bodley Head....
), which served as the key element to the 1941 feature film
Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial Film distributor in Movie theater and being the "main attraction" of the screening ....
 with the same name from Walt Disney Productions. The story has also been set to music as a children's operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
 by John Rutter
John Rutter

John Milford Rutter Order of the British Empire is an England composer, choir conducting, editing, arranger and record producer.Born in London, he was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener....
, with words by David Grant. The story takes place in the Berkshire Downs
Berkshire Downs

The Berkshire Downs are a downland area in England lie north of the River Kennet, south of the River Thames, east of Swindon and west of Reading, England....
 in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
 (where the author lived and where, according to legend, St George did fight a dragon).






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The Reluctant Dragon is an 1898
1898 in literature

The year 1898 in literature involved some significant new books....
 children's story
Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres....
 by Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame was a United Kingdom writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon, which was much later adapted into a Disney film....
 (originally published as a chapter in his book Dream Days
Dream Days

Dream Days is a collection of children's literature and reminiscences of childhood written by Kenneth Grahame. A sequel to Grahame's 1895 in literature collection The Golden Age , Dream Days was first published in 1898 in literature under the imprint The Bodley Head....
), which served as the key element to the 1941 feature film
Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial Film distributor in Movie theater and being the "main attraction" of the screening ....
 with the same name from Walt Disney Productions. The story has also been set to music as a children's operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
 by John Rutter
John Rutter

John Milford Rutter Order of the British Empire is an England composer, choir conducting, editing, arranger and record producer.Born in London, he was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener....
, with words by David Grant. The story takes place in the Berkshire Downs
Berkshire Downs

The Berkshire Downs are a downland area in England lie north of the River Kennet, south of the River Thames, east of Swindon and west of Reading, England....
 in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
 (where the author lived and where, according to legend, St George did fight a dragon). It is Grahame's most famous short story. It is arguably much more well-known than Dream Days itself or the related The Golden Age
The Golden Age (Grahame)

The Golden Age is a collection of reminiscences of childhood, written by Kenneth Grahame and originally published in book form in 1895 in literature, in London by The Bodley Head, and in Chicago by Stone & Kimball....
. It can be seen as a prototype to most modern stories in which the dragon is a sympathetic character rather than a threat.

In Grahame's story, a young boy discovers an erudite, mushroom-loving dragon
Dragon

File:Ukiyo-e dragon 2.jpgThe dragon is a legendary creature with serpentine shape or otherwise reptilian traits that features in the mythology of many cultures....
 living in the Downs above his home. The two become friends, but soon afterwards the dragon is discovered by the townsfolk, who send for St George to rid them of it. St George, by this time, is quite elderly and has little interest in slaying dragons, though he resolves to do it as it is his duty. The boy introduces St George to the dragon, and the two decide that it would be better for them not to fight. Eventually, they decide to stage a fake joust
Jousting

Jousting is a sport played by two armored combatants mounted on horses. It consists of wiktionary:martial competition between two mounted knights using a variety of weapons, usually in sets of three per weapon , often as part of a Tournament ....
 between the two combatants. The dragon appears to have died, and the townsfolk rejoice (though not all of them, as some had placed bets on the dragon winning). St George then reveals that the dragon had not died, and assures the townsfolk that he is not dangerous. The dragon is then accepted by the people.

One scholar describes the book as "a story about language", such as the "dialect of the illiterate people," and the "literary aspirations of the dragon." The story also has an opening scene in which a little girl named Charlotte (a character from Grahame's The Golden Age) and a grown-up character find mysterious reptilian footprints in the snow and follow them, eventually finding a man who tells them the story of the Reluctant Dragon; two abridged versions (one by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by John Segal and another abridged and illustrated by Inga Moore) both omit this scene. A New York Times review by Emily Jenkins notes that this framework is somewhat long-winded and might cause some parents to worry about whether the story can keep kids' attention... however, she finds the unabridged version preferable to both abridgments (although she says that "Moore retains the pure joy of the author's descriptive passages").

Peter Green, in his 1959 biography of Grahame, writes that while the story can be viewed as a satire like Don Quixote
Don Quixote

, fully titled is an early novel written by Spain author Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes created a fictional origin for the story based upon a manuscript by the invented Moors historian, Cide Hamete Benengeli....
, the characters can be seen on a deeper level as representing different sides of the author himself: St. George representing Grahame as a public servant representing the Establishment and the Dragon representing his anarchic, artistic, anti-social side.

External links

  • at Project Gutenberg
    Project Gutenberg

    Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works, as founder Michael Hart said "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."....
    . The Reluctant Dragon is a chapter of Dream Days.
  • at Project Gutenberg