Lord Ye's Love of Dragons
Chinese Fables
Let me tell you about a fellow named Lord Ye. Now, Lord Ye really, really, *really* seemed to love dragons. He talked about dragons all day long!
His house was like a dragon museum. He had pictures of dragons on his walls, big ones and small ones. He had statues of dragons on his tables, some fierce, some smiling. Even his teacups had little dragons painted on them! If you looked closely, you might even find dragons on his pajamas. "Oh, dragons are the most wonderful creatures!" he would say to everyone. "So strong! So magnificent!"
Word got around, all the way up to the clouds where a real, live dragon lived. This dragon heard, "There's a human named Lord Ye who absolutely adores us dragons!"
The dragon thought, "Wow! This Lord Ye sounds like my biggest fan! I should go visit him. He'll be so happy to see a real dragon!"
So, one sunny afternoon, the real dragon decided to pay Lord Ye a visit. It flew down from the sky, a huge, magnificent creature with shiny scales and long whiskers. It gently poked its head through Lord Ye’s biggest window, giving a friendly sort of dragon smile. Its long, swishy tail knocked over a small vase outside.
Now, did Lord Ye jump for joy? Did he say, "Welcome, amazing dragon! I've been waiting for you!"?
Nope!
When Lord Ye saw the giant, scaly head of a *real* dragon peeking into his room, his eyes went wide. His mouth dropped open. He let out a little squeak, like a mouse! Then he turned around and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, shouting, "Aaaah! A real dragon! Help!" He hid under his bed, trembling.
The poor dragon was very confused. It tilted its big head. "But... I thought he liked dragons?" it rumbled softly to itself. It had expected cheers and a warm welcome, not screams and a running man.
With a sad little puff of smoke from its nose, the dragon slowly pulled its head out of the window and flew back up to the clouds.
And Lord Ye? Well, he learned that liking pictures and statues of something is very different from liking the real, big, scaly thing, especially when it shows up at your window!
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