Six Silly Dragon Stories (from My Real Life)

I used to collect dragons. I started in high school when my grandmother purchases me a hand-blown glass dragon as a birthday gift. For awhile, everywhere I went, I came home with a new dragon. Unfortunately, any type of figure collecting is expensive, and my husband and I agree we’ve run out of places to put them. I don’t really want to buy new pretties just to keep them in a box. So while I keep my eye out for special dragons (someday I’m going to get that pair of dragon heart goblets!) I don’t buy many these days.

My favorite things about my collection, though, are the stories connected to the pieces in it. Since I’m feeling whimsical today, I thought I’d share some of them.

The Ice Dragon

My all-time favorite dragon was also my first. I nicknamed him Nikki, after a character in a story I have yet to write, but have been thinking about since high school. I treasure this dragon more than the rest (and worry every time I have to move him to a new house x.x) in part because he was a gift from my grandmother, who passed away while we lived in England.

About eight years ago, when we still lived in our first apartment in Toronto, we went away for a couple of days. Our landlord was having some construction done on the area outside our basement apartment. Something they did on the other side of our outer wall knocked several knickknacks off one of my shelves. I swear I had a premonition that something bad had happened when we were a block away from returning to the house.

The casualties were a glass angel I bought for my husband (and had actually already replaced once before x.x) and a second glass dragon that I have somewhat glued back together (he’s mostly retired now, since he fell apart so many times), and this little dude right here. He fell off that shelf. And miraculously, landed on something soft that cushioned his fall. There’s not a scratch or dent on him! I’m greatly relieved, of course, and now I keep him in places less likely to be disturbed.

The Norse Dragon

This was a Christmas gift from my husband, way back in the long ago, when we were still boyfriend and girlfriend. We lived far away from each other at the time – him in northern Ontario and me in central Pennsylvania. The hubby’s family went skiing in Whistler for the holiday and instead of doing that (which probably would have been much more exciting), he came to visit me.

The beginning of the trip was a bit of a schmoz because the airline misspelled the man’s name on his plane ticket and then his flight from Toronto was canceled. When my mother tried to get information about the rescheduled flight, the airline refused to release it because she had the wrong name. We ended up having to drive back and forth from the airport (an hour and a half) twice, just to get information about when his flight would arrive. And then, of course, the airline lost half his luggage and had to deliver the second bag on a beer truck (no lie).

Anyway, story of his arrival aside, this little guy is unique among my collection. You don’t see many dragons that break from the typical western or Asian forms. I also like that he’s got details all the way around, though I often debate with myself what his optimal positioning should be.

The Chinese Dragons

Of all the dragons in my collection, these two get the most comments. Probably because I always display them in a prominent place (currently the center of the mantle in the living room). They are rather elegant, though the story behind their acquisition isn’t all that spectacular. My husband and I bought these two while we were on our honeymoon. We bought them from the Chinese section of Epcot, our favorite Disney park. (Yes, we went to Disney World for our honeymoon.) While we were there, we also got a replica katana from the Japan section nearby.

The Disappearing Crystal

You can’t tell from the picture, but the crystal this little guy covets no longer stays in his hand. The ball came loose about six years ago, and I’ve never been able to get it glued back in place. The glue inevitably gives way after awhile. Which isn’t a big deal, since I know to grab the crystal when I touch him, but has caused some problems when we have company. One of my brother-in-law’s friends knocked the crystal clean off the bookshelf one time when he visited, and we scoured the apartment to no avail. I teased him mercilessly, of course, that he had lost the dragon’s crystal, though I wasn’t particularly upset about it (it was my fault for not ever getting the glue to stick).

Fast forward to almost a year later when we packed up our Toronto apartment to move to northern Quebec. I thought the crystal was long gone, but when we moved the bookshelf this dragon sits on, we found it! It was nestled up against the side of the bookshelf – in plain sight – but somehow we had never been able to find it. It’s weird how life works some times.

The Bookends

These are another pair of old dragons. I bought them my freshman year in high school on a school trip to Disney World. At the time, my husband and I lived far away from each other and I always wanted to foster a sense of connection between us. I had a habit of buying us identical things and sending him half of the pair. Of course, when we reunited, it meant we had two of these, so I turned them into bookends.

Sager the Ninja Dragon

The newest member of my collection (yes, I still sleep with stuffed animals). I bought this guy shortly after we moved to England, since I didn’t have enough space (or weight) to bring my prized Winnie the Pooh with me. His name is Sager – it says so on his tag – and he’s part of some franchise over there I’m not familiar with. I honestly just bought him because he looked cute and wasn’t tiny (I ordered him from Amazon). He arrived with a slice in one of his lower paws, but was so adorable I couldn’t bear to send him back. So I patched him up and kept him, eventually bringing him back to Canada with me.

My husband was offended when I introduced him as Sager the Ninja Dragon, proclaiming that I couldn’t just say he was a ninja. At which point I showed him the tag explaining his ninja dragon story (though I don’t think my husband was any more pleased about the idea after reading it).

What are your favorite treasures and what are the stories attached to them? Leave me a comment and let me know!