CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THE GREAT DRAGON OF OME
The water was cold, and it had been so comfortable lying on the beach that soon everybody was straggling ashore, and Paul Newman and Kathy and Kevin and Eugene were wandering up the hill.
"Hey! Come back here!" ordered Miss Prysby. "Don't you understand -- it's dangerous".
Then she decided to run after them and bring them back. But as she ran up the hill, she started forgetting what she was running for, and she just wanted to get to the top, and everybody was running there.
From the very top, off in the distance, across the green green fields of Ome, they saw the huge shape of the Great Dragon of Ome, the Lizard of Oz, the Leaping Lizard himself.
Peter and Linda Crotty hid in Miss Morgan's lap. And Linda S. said, "The zoo's a really nice place to go to see strange animals. There are bars and everything; and it's really very safe".
But somebody started singing "Puff, the Magic Dragon," and soon everybody was singing it. And they were all laughing and playing and rolling in the green green grass of Ome.
From way off in the distance, they heard the sound, "Ome, Ome, Ome . . ". repeated over and over again by what sounded like a huge chorus of people.
Joey asked, "Why do they keep saying 'Ome,' Miss Prysby?"
"It must be a football game or something," she answered. "They're probably chanting the name of the home team. But it's funny -- if I shut my eyes, I could think I was in the Far East in some Buddhist monastery".
"Where's the Far East?" asked Mark. "Is it in Maine somewhere?"
"No, it's on the other side of the world. You see, the world's a very big place. The sun shines here half the time and there in the East the other half. When it's day here, it's night there. And when it's night there, it's day here. There's no real difference between their side of the world and ours. But by some strange coincidence, all the major religions of the world have originated in the East".
"Miss Prysby, come quick!" shouted Gaynell. "Somebody over here's in chains".
"Don't free me," said the man. "Please, don't free me. I don't trust myself. I can't trust myself. I know it'll destroy me, but I'm drawn to it. Please, don't free me". He pulled at the chains, trying with every muscle in his body to rip himself free. The chains cut through his flesh to the bone. Then he fell back, exhausted, relieved that he hadn't broken free. His arms and legs were scarred and bloodied by such repeated attempts. "The sirens, it's the sirens, I tell you. It isn't that good. It can't be. It's an illusion. They're trying to get me to crack up". Then he jumped up again and pulled again, screaming with pain.
Someone else was praying, "Oh radiant being, light of lights, very God of very Gods . . ".
A girl was writhing on the ground, saying, "Stop! It hurts. Please don't pull me there. Please. I don't think I can stop myself. It feels too good".
Miss Morgan said, "Everyone back on top of the hill. We shouldn't expose the children to this. I'll run ahead and get what we came for. If I go fast, I think it'll be all right".
So Miss Morgan went running down the hillside with the stick in her hand. At first she was scared, but soon she started to feel that she didn't need anyone bigger than herself, that she had nothing to be afraid of -- she could handle anything that might happen. Then she realized there was someone bigger. She couldn't say who it was; but she felt there was someone, and felt he was with her.
"Gosh," said Donny, "look at all the pretty colors".
Miss Morgan's clothes had suddenly changed color.
"That's the strange intense light," explained Miss Prysby. "It plays tricks on your eyes. It can make a perfectly ordinary dress look like it's fit for a queen".
"Fit for an empress," said Kathy. "That's moral fiber".
Miss Prysby laughed, "What a beautiful idea. Children say the sweetest things".
"Man," said Paul Newman, "she can't fight that dragon all by herself". He went running to the rescue.
"Stop, Paul!" Miss Prysby shouted. "Come back!"
But he kept running, and the kids all wanted to follow him. Miss Prysby held them back; so they practiced the dragon-fighting strokes that St. George and the other Knights of the Merry-Go-Round Table had taught them; and they cheered Miss Morgan and Paul Newman on.
When Paul Newman started out, he was a bit scared. But the closer he got to the dragon, the better he felt. He could feel his muscles growing with every step. It would be child's play to kick that little dragon for a field goal. The empty corners of his mind filled with new strength and confidence. It was no mystery to him how people turned themselves into fish and fish turned to frogs and frogs to people. He felt the life force surging within him, the force that in an acorn can crack huge boulders, the power to change the world and to change oneself.
All around him, other people rushed forward then crawled back, fighting themselves and fighting this force that drew them onwards. Hundreds shouted that they were Caesar or Napoleon. One shouted that he was an atom bomb.
Paul Newman passed Miss Morgan. He had forgotten that he was running to rescue her and fight the dragon. Now he was running to that source of strength, and all around him he heard "Ome, Ome, Ome . . .," and he had to fight his way through masses of immobile humanity chanting over and over "Ome, Ome, Ome . . ".
Meanwhile, Donny was moving forward, too. Miss Prysby was so busy trying to see Paul Newman and Miss Morgan that she didn't notice that Donny had slipped by. He hadn't meant to go far; but with every step he took, he saw clearer and brighter and sharper. Soon he was seeing through things with x-ray vision, like Superman. Then he knew what it must be like to be one of those judges in The Oddest Sea who could tell at a glance who was a goodie and who a baddie -- he felt he could literally see what was right and wrong.
Kathy, too, was slowly edging her way ahead. Not that she meant to disobey Miss Prysby, but her feet just sidled that way of their own accord, while she was daydreaming about the love potion in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Then she saw a robin with a hurt wing. She bent down and picked the robin up and petted it. She just loved the little robin, and it looked so much like it wanted to fly toward the dragon. It had probably hurt itself from trying so hard. So she ran forward with the robin in her hand, and it seemed to gain strength with every step she took, and it sang for joy and flew off toward the dragon. And Kathy felt good all over.
Next Mark started running toward the dragon; and as he ran, he felt he could answer all the questions he had ever wanted to ask. Then he felt he had the answers to hundreds of questions he'd never even thought of asking. Then he didn't even know what the questions could be, but he knew he was finding answers and the answers were important -- so very important.
Without realizing it, Miss Prysby, too, was slowly moving forward, and the rest of the class with her. She felt she had never known so much in all her life. She felt she didn't even know how much she knew. But she nearly tripped.
"I have to tell someone," said the man she almost tripped over. "I have to put it into words. You see, I went to Ome singing, and I returned from Ome singing, and the light was in my words, and the light shone through my words. My beloved heard the song and came running to see what I had seen. But while I put what I saw into words, she was speechless; and it filled her; and she was spell-bound.
"I can see from her face that she's happy. But all she sees is that light -- that cursed light, that bless light. And I'll go mad if I can't tell someone, keep telling someone". And he ran off to tell someone else.
"We have to do something," said Miss Prysby. "This dragon business is dangerous. I thought so before, but now I know it. And we ought to put it into words; I know we ought. Our only protection is to put it into words; but I don't know how".
Linda S. started singing "Joshua at the Battle of Jericho," and everybody joined in. Then they piled into the little green VW, and Miss Prysby drove as fast as she could toward the Great Dragon of Ome, the Lizard of Oz. Everybody kept singing as loud as they could "Joshua at the Battle of Jericho".
They picked up Mark and Kathy and Donny along the way. Then they slowed to push their way through the mob. They had to sing really loud to hear themselves over the great roaring chant of "Ome, Ome, Ome . . ". But it was a bit of a challenge, and the kids loved to sing loud anyway, and they were really good at singing loud.
They picked up Paul Newman and Miss Morgan near a huge giant who was stretched out at the feet of the dragon. And still they sang loud and clear "Joshua at the Battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down".
Then the kids piled out of the car and started climbing all over the dragon. Gaynell put wilted forgetmenots between his toes. Kathy stuck petalless daisies under his scales. Paul Newman took out his slightly crushed sunflower and hit the dragon's belly with it. And Eugene and Kevin and Joey kept hitting the dragon with upper cuts and back strokes and breast strokes, just like St. George had taught them. The dragon really didn't know what to make of it all.
Then Cindy, who had climbed all the way up the dragon's back, carefully, very carefully crawled to the top of his head, and stroked him very gently behind the left ear. It was a stroke of genius. He purred and lay down and looked incredibly happy. And soon he was sound asleep.
Paul Newman and Eugene and Kevin and Mark and Joey and Donny and Peter and Timmy and Kathy and Gaynell and Linda Crotty and Linda S. all held the dragon's mouth open, and Miss Morgan reached with the stick, way, way down the dragon's throat. When her arm came out, the torch was glowing bright and clear, with the fire that doesn't burn.
