There once was a king who had many soldiers in his army. However, the king did not pay his soldiers much, and none of them could live on the money that the king gave them.
Three of the soldiers of the king's army decided to desert the army and run away.
However all the three of them realized that it was not a prudent suggestion. “If you're caught, we shall be put to death.” The first one said, “then how do we go about it?”
The second one pointed to a large cornfield nearby. “Do you see that we can hide ourselves there? And no one can find us.”
The three men agreed on that and they marched into the cornfield and hid there.
However much to the dismay of the three men the army did not march on, but remained camped close to the cornfield so that they could catch the three deserters when they tried to get out of the cornfield.
This went on for two days and two nights.
Finally, the three men were so hungry that they knew that they could not stay inside the cornfield much longer.
The third one lamented to himself. “What was the use of deserting the army? We are going to perish here in the cornfield anyway.”
Even as the third man was speaking, a huge dragon flew up through the air hovering just about the three men.
The dragon saw the three men and flew towards them. “Why are you hidden here?”
The first men answered. “We were soldiers who deserted the army because the pay was small. However, it has reached a stage that if we remain here in the cornfield, we should die of hunger and if we move out we shall be put to death by the king.”
The dragon studied the three soldiers and had a sly look in its eyes. “If you promise to serve me for seven years I will help you. I can take you away from this and make sure that no one will catch you.”
The three men looked at each other and realized that they did not have any choice other than to accept the offer of the dragon.
The dragon then seized the three men with its claws and took them through the air over the army and settled them in a far away region.
The dragon gave the three men a whip. “Every time you whip air, money will throw up. So you can live great, rich, luxurious lives for seven years, but after that you are mine.” The dragon then made a contract and had the three men and made them sign it. One of the extra conditions in the contract was that the dragon would offer a riddle to the men at the end of seven years. If the men are able to answer the riddle, then the soldiers would not be bound to the dragon anymore.
After that the dragon flew away from there and the three men moved on with their whip.
For six years, the men lived a very happy and rich life.
However, time passed quickly and the seventh year was almost about to end when the three men became anxious and frightened that the dragon would come to claim what belonged to it.
Adapted from Fairy book of Andrew Lang
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