大象传媒

By Siya Kantaria

When Bob asked me to cover for him at the castle, he said it would be an easy gig, no major dramas. "Nothing ever 'appens round 'ere at this castle. Old Queen Quigley will be busy admirin' her sagging reflection in one of her many mirrors!" His words were believable. "You'll be knittin' and chillin', as much as you like. Never understood your obsession wiv it. Whoever heard of a knittin' knight?!"
So you can imagine that butterfly feeling of terror in my tummy, when a shrill, but frail voice called for me. "Knight! Get up here this instant."
I raced up the stairs, two at a time and nervously stood in the doorway. An overly made-up female figure appeared, exclaiming in disgust, "I haven't seen you before. Ugh! Agency staff. Anyway, get that awful dragon out of my bed. I'm the Queen, don't you know? I'm exceedingly wealthy..." she snorted crassly. "I'm also very beautiful" she continued unabashed, elongating her vowels, and reminding me of my visit to Australia. With that, she scurried out of the room, fluttering her long, artificial eyelashes.
What the flippin' 'eck am I going to do with this dragon? I mused, whispering "Don't hurt me!" The dragon turned towards me and I spyed his knife-like claws.
Finally, the dragon spoke, somewhat surprisingly, in a Welsh accent. "Why does everyone think that us dragons are evil?" his soft voice sing-songed. "I blame those legends, but goodness, I wish you wouldn't stereotype us ALL. I'm freezing cold and I'm not going anywhere. This is the most glorious bed my scales have ever touched. Satin sheets, velvet pillows - he gave a sigh and melted back into what did look like an amazingly comfortable bed.
As he did so, an idea popped into my head like one of those storybook lightbulb moments! "Give me a second mate." I ran downstairs, as fast as a cheetah, threw my helmet off and grabbed my balls of wool, beginning to knit. All those years of practice, and my hands knew exactly what to do, my mind working quickly to resize dimensions. I thrust the finished product towards the dragon, no longer afraid of this jovial chap, who wiggled into what seemed to be a perfect fit.
A dragon in a onesie. What a site!
Grinning, he said "Thank you for listening to me, and my needs. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only challenging stereotypes. A knight who can knit. Multitalented! We are both misfits, you and me. I think we'd make a great pair. Together, we could be something different that can change how the world looks at things, especially us "boys".
We made it our mission and duty, to travel the world, to find all the other misfits and show the world, that every animal and human has a power and plea, but you can only find it if you are prepared to be kind, curious and creative in your thinking.