Likely, your first reaction upon reading the caption to this drawing would be to laugh. Rightfully so. I would, too. But, there is more here than just a giggle.

It is axiomatic that to have a great hero you must have a great villain for the hero to vanquish. The dragon is the greatest villain our culture has created. “In league with the devil” it is evil, heartless, greedy, ugly, foul-smelling, treacherous, corrupt and most importantly very powerful. 

This evil creature is just “hanging out,” hoarding gold, waiting to be slain by our virtuous, brave, intelligent, handsome, incorruptible and most importantly very powerful hero. The one small problem is that not every knight who sets out to kill his dragon has the stuff that heroes are made of. Alas, this brings us back to my drawing where a brave, valiant, “wanabe hero” just fell short of the mark. The knight who does conquer this very powerful, successful dragon will surely be a very great hero.

From the dragon’s point of view it is pleasant, if strange, to have your dinners come charging up to you shouting, “You shall die, Evil One, for right is on my side.”