"That's why it's so important," he continued, "for tie supper to sing as beautifully, as it can."
He gestured to his stomach, from where the voice could still be heard singing, though more and more faintly.
Humans can be bland, but if you have some salt to hand, A little hit of brim, will make them taste. divi-I-I-I-ne....
l5l
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"Tiat PARTICULAR, supper," said the Dragon, "that you hear singing now, was a dragon rather smaller than me ,but very full of himself. I ate him about half an hour ago."
"Isn't that cannibalism?" asked Hiccup.
"It's delicious," said the Dragon. "Besides, you can't call an ARTIST like myself a CANNBAL." He sounded a bit exasperated now. "You are very rude for such a small person. What do you want, Little Supper?"
"I have come," said Hiccup, "to find. out whether you come in PEACE or in WAR."
"Oh, peace, I tilink," said the Dragon. "I amgoing to kill you though," he added.
"Allof us?" asked Hiccup.
"You first," said the Dragon kindly. "Anil then everybody else when I've had, a little nap and got my appetite bad?;. It takes a little while to wake up completely from a Sleep Coma."
"But it's ail so unfair!" said Hiccup. "Why do YOU get to eat everybody, just because you're bigger than everybody else?"
"It's tie way of tie world," said the Dragon. " Besides , you'll fink that you come round to my
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point of view once you're inside me. That's tie marvelous thing about digestion.... But where are my manners? Let me introduce myself. I am the Green Death. What is your name, Little Supper?"
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddpck the Third," said Hiccup.
And the most extraordinary thing happened.
As Hiccup said his name the Green Death trembled, as if a sudden wind had made him shiver. Neither the Green Death nor Hiccup noticed.
"Hmmm .. .," said the Green Death. "I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere before. But it's rather a mouthful so I shall just call you Little Sup-fer. Now, Little Supper, before I eat you, tell me your problem."
"My problem?" asked Hiccup.
"That's right," said the Dragon. "Your Why-Can't-I-More- Like- My-Father? problem Your It's-Harh-to-Be-a-Hero problem. Your Snotlout-Would-Make-a-Better-Cftief-Than-Me problem. I have helped. the probiems of many a Supper. Some-how meeting a Really Big problem like myself seems to put everything else inproportion."
"Let me get this straight," said Hiccup. "You
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know all about my father, and me not being a Hero and everything ~"
"I can see things like that," said the Green Death modestly.
"-anil you want me to tell you my problems and then you're going to eat me?"
"We're back at tie beginning again," sighed the Green Death. "We're allgoing to be eaten SOMETIME. You can win yourself some extra time, though, if you're a smart little crabstick. A few scraps from tie burning...."
The Green Death yawned.
"I'm suddenly rather tireh," he said. "You ART; a clever little crabstick, you've kept me talking for AGES. . .." and the Dragon yawned again. "I'm too tired to eat you right now, you'll have to come back in a couple of hours ... and I'll tell you how to ileal with your problem then. I have a feeling I can help you... ."
And the terrible monster really didfall asleep this time, and snored most heavily. His great claws relaxed and fell open and the remaining sheep, their woolly sides trembling with terror, scrambled over the tops of the terrible talons and bolted up the cliff path.
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Hiccup stood watching the Dragon thoughtfully for a second, then he trudged slowly back through the heather toward the village.
Everybody cheered when he walked through the gates. He was carried shoulder high and set down in front of his father.
"Well, son," said Stoick. "Does the beast come in PEACE or in WAR?"
"He says he comes in peace," said Hiccup. There were huge hurrahs and heavy stampings of feet. Hiccup held up his hand for silence. "He's still going to kill us, though."
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Chapter 13.
WHEN YELLING DOESN'T WORK
The Dragon slept on as the Council of War argued about what to do next.
"I am going to write a strongly worded letter to Professor Yobbish," said Stoick the Vast. "This book needs a lot more WORDS to tell you what to do if yelling doesn't work."
Which shows how cross Stoick was -- he never wrote a letter if he could help it.
Stoick, in fact, was really rattled, for the first time in his life.
This is what comes of not following the Law,he thought to himself. If I had banished the boys last night like I should have done, they would not be here to die with the rest of us. I should have put my trust in Thor.
Mogadon the Meathead had not yet realized the gravity of the situation. He thought it was a question of constructing some sort of megaphone machine to make the Yell sound bigger.
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"A gigantic dragon just needs a gigantic Yell,"he said.
"We already TRIED that, O Plankton Brain," said Stoick.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING PLANKTON
BRAIN?" demanded Mogadon, and they went whisker to whisker like a couple of furious walruses.
Hiccup sighed and walked out of the village.
He had a feeling the grown-ups weren't going to come up with anything fiendishly clever.
To Hiccup's surprise he was followed not only by Fishlegs but by all the Novices from both the Hooligan AND the Meathead tribes.
They stood around Hiccup in a semicircle.
"So, Hiccup," said Thuggory the Meathead. "What are we going to do now, then?"
"Whaddyamean by asking HICCUP?" demanded Snotlout crossly. "You're not going to ask THE USELESS to get us out of this mess, are you? He just single-handedly got us all to fail the Final Initiation Test. We were about to be banished and eaten by cannibals all because of HIM. He can't even control a dragon the size of an earwig!"
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"Can YOU talk to dragons then, Snotface?" asked Fishlegs.
"I am pleased to say I cannot," said Snotlout, with dignity.
"Well, shut up, then," said Fishlegs.
Snotlout got hold of Fishlegs by the arm and started twisting.
"Nobody, but NOBODY, tells SNOTFACE
SNOTLOUT to shut up," hissed Snotlout.
"Ido," said Thuggory the Meathead. He grabbed Snotlout by the shirt and lifted him clear off the ground. "YOUR dragon got us failed just as much as HIS. I didn't notice anybody'sdragon sitting up and begging like a good boy in the middle of that dragon-fight. YOU shut up or I will tear you limb from limb and feed you to the gulls, you winkle-hearted, seaweed-brained, limpet-eating PIG."
Snotlout looked into Thuggory's stern little eyes.
Snotlout shut up.
Thuggory dropped him and wiped his hands disdainfully on his tunic. "Anyway," said Thuggory, "MY father was on that stupid Council of Elders too. I'm with Hiccup. What kind of father puts his stupid Laws before the life of his son? And what kind of stupid Test
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[Image: You shut up or I will tear you to the gulls, you winkle hearted seaweed-brained, limpet eating Pig]
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