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Joshua Meets Puff, A Tale of Hannah Lee
The dragon quilt is to illustrate a story I wrote for my son Joshua who was, at the time I wrote it, almost 4. We were about to move from
Begin the full text of :
Joshua Meets Puff, A Tale of Hannah Lee
By Sarah Ann Smith, October 1997
Once upon a time, not far into the future, a boy named Joshua sailed to a magical island called
On the trip across the island, Joshua could see beautiful snow-capped peaks and passed a farmer tilling his fields. Nearby, he saw a well and next to it a picnic basket and mandolin (which is sort of like a guitar and plays wonderful music). But most wondrous of all was the little bearded man in the red hat who stopped to talk to Joshua. Joshua didn’t know it then, but the little gnome (for that is what the man was) had magical powers.
The little bearded man told Joshua he was about to embark on a journey and offered him the jug, to fill with water at the well, the picnic basket, and the mandolin to learn how to play. Joshua thanked the little gnome for being so kind, and went along his way.
Joshua had been walking for a long time, so he decided to stop by a babbling brook for a snack and a nap. He didn’t know that while he was asleep the little woodland creatures crept out to look after him and make sure he was safe! The young lad hadn’t realized how tired he was! When he awoke, the stars were out and shining brightly.
Joshua was a little afraid to be out at night in a place he didn’t know, so he began walking. Before long, he came to a clearing with a barn, stable and house. As he neared the house, a young woman came out holding a lantern. Joshua was surprised that she seemed to have heard him. He said “Hello,” and she replied “I am Sylvine; I heard your mandolin calling to me. Please stay here where there is shelter, and I will see you on your way in the morning.”
Joshua gladly answered “thank you, I would love to stay here, for I am very sleepy.” They went into the house, where the nice spotted doggy, who was named Spot, wagged his tail and barked a happy hello to Joshua and the girl.
Sylvine hung the lantern on the wall and offered Joshua supper of fresh bread with butter and jelly, tea and cream and fruit. Soon it was time for bed, and they went to sleep. The dog slept on the rug, and the cat in front of the fireplace.
Soon, it was morning and they had waffles for breakfast. Then, it was time for Joshua to journey on. Sylvine gave Joshua a knapsack to carry his things, and he thanked her for the gift and her hospitality.
As the sun rose in the sky, Joshua moved westward. Before long, Joshua arrived at the water’s edge, in a land called Hannah Lee.
As Joshua sat by the sea, a friendly whale named Hannah came by and said hello to him, and told him that he would receive a special visit from a magical friend, Puff. Now Joshua had no idea who or what a Puff was, but since the whale was so nice and friendly, Joshua decided to sit down and have a morning snack. He ate his bread and some fruit and had a few drinks of water from the jug.
Then he noticed the most curious thing: the jug filled back up all by itself, magically! What a wonderful gift from the gnome! Then Joshua took out his mandolin and began to learn how to play it. As he strummed, a dragon swam towards the shore.
Neither Joshua nor the dragon (which looked like a sea serpent when it was swimming) knew whether to be more scared or curious. In the end, they both decided to be curious and check each other out.
As the baby dragon got out of the water, his fins turned green! Not many people know that dragons, like chameleons, can change colors. When they are happy, they turn pink and purple. When they are a bit scared, they turn green, and when they are sad turn blue or gray. And when they are just swimming along, they can be any combination of colors—just like Puff looked (blue and red) when Joshua first saw him.
Well, the baby dragon swam right up to the edge of the beach toward this funny thing he saw, even though he didn’t know it was a boy. It had blond furry stuff on its head, walked on only two legs, and had no wings! It was Joshua.
The boy said, “Hi. My name is Joshua.”
And the baby dragon, now happy and pink, said “Hi! I’m Puff and I’m a dragon. Will you be my friend?” And with that, Puff walked onto the grass and sat down next to Joshua. Joshua asked Puff if he would like some fruit and water, and Puff said, “Yes, thank you, I’m hungry.”
Then Puff noticed the mandolin, and asked Joshua to play him a song, and he did. It was a song about a train called “She’ll be comin’ round the mountain.” When Joshua was done, Puff asked if he could play the mandolin.
And Puff taught Joshua a sea chanty, then said he would make up a new song about his friend, Joshua. It went like this:
Puff the Magic Dragon
(insert the rest of the lyrics here…since they are copyrighted, I won’t! just substitute “Joshua Smith” for “Johnny Paper”.)
Joshua and Puff became the best of friends, and played by the shore and went on sailing trips together. Joshua sailed in his ship and Puff swam along side, and they had great adventures. But those are new stories, and this is THE END.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Your quilt is so amazing. And such a special story for your son.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:47 am
The story is great. I used to tell original stories to my kids at night. A new one every night. Talk about taxing the imagination! They often had a moral slipped in based on things that happened during the day. My son carried on the tradition when his kids were small. It makes for great memories. Too bad I didn’t write any of them down and neither did my son. It’s good that you have done that.