With his tousled blond hair and sad blue eyes, I see Jánoska Silk in front of me as I write his name. And my heart aches as she whispers, her soft lips curled into a cry:
- Thomas, don't be angry with me!
In truth, I had no reason to be angry with Jánoska. He never hurt me with a single look. Nor anyone else, let alone me. He was like soft bread to everyone. He was loved by everyone but me. I always got so angry when the teacher said:
- Guys, take a lesson from Jánoska Selyem!
"Why Jánoska Silk? - I was sick to my stomach. - What makes him a better man than me? He is one of everything, and so am I. His father's a master-maid, and so am I. But his is a poor master, and mine a rich master. He is as cowardly as a rabbit, I am as brave as a lion."
I used to look at poor Jánoska like an angry lion. And he looked at me in fear, like some innocent rabbit.
- "Thomas, don't be angry with me!" she always said with her cornflower eyes. And I'd probably still be angry with him if the dragon hadn't made us friends. Don't be frightened, this dragon didn't have seven heads, just one, and it was made of paper. It wasn't blowing fire furiously at the bottom of some dark cave, but floating gently in the air. It didn't even need to be chained up by some famous fairy-tale hero: a thin string was enough for it, and with that it followed me like a lamb with hands.
The problem was that my dragon was only a sheep with hands. I wanted it to be an osprey. It was a rare and beautiful animal, with a long tail, a round head, and even a red paper eye. It was no good if the string was short.
- Just down, just down, just down! - the paper tail kept ringing, while his red eyes looked longingly up to the sky, where the other boys' kites were grazing happily.
And I sighed a big sigh, but that just didn't get the dragon any higher. "Well, the tow will carry it!" - I thought to myself.
Towing is a crafty business. It consists of one child putting his kite over the other's, pulling hard on it, clinging to the string, and towing the prey to himself. I would have towed it myself, if I'd had anything to do with it. But how could I with my staggering cattle get above those prideful dragons?
Luckily, I saw that down the street, Jánoska Silk was also fighting with a dragon. The dragon was as helpless as its owner. His head was folded and unfolded, his tail heavy with papier-mache.
But it had a nice long string, and that's what I needed. As soon as the heavy-headed dragon started to swing a little, I rushed out with mine like an arrow, and pulled him down so hard that Jánoska only came to her senses when I had already tied his string to mine.
- Don't take it, Thomas, God bless you! You see, I never hurt anyone's game!
- No, because you're a coward!
Poor Jánoska Silk was still wiping her eyes when I was running down the third street. The dragon took me with him. He was now flapping in his free flight like a wild warbler.
- Just up, just up, just up!
I took down every kite I could see over the village, and used its string to extend all mine. My kite was already over the village tower, when the moon came out from behind the poplars and covered its mouth:
- Nini, will there be two moons in the sky after this?
And my dragon paused for a moment, thinking to himself:
"Gee, it would be nice if I could tow this silver dragon!"
Then he lifted his head, gave me a big yank on my arm, and, wham, the string snapped! The dragon swung, spun, waggled, and fell headlong, so that my heart broke for him. I thought it had fallen into the moonlight. But no, he did not fall, no! In the morning, I open my tearful eyes and there's the kite, hanging on the window handle. Half of his eye remained in the moon, but he squinted with the other half all the friendlier:
- Am I not a cunning creature, little master?
As I run out, I see Janika Silk cowering in the dust next to the dragon.
- "I brought your kite back," he says, "it fell down in our yard, right on top of the barn.
I was very ashamed, and I put the kite by the bridle on Janika's arm.
- "Let it be yours," I said, with downcast eyes, "since the string was yours anyway.
That's when I understood that he was a better person than me.
