Dragon Stew (Part 3)

In which our hero receives the list of ingredients from the captive princess.

“But then, if none of these are to work? How shall I rescue you?” asked James, feeling a little disappointed and confused.

“Well, you will have to go shopping!”

“Shopping?” asked the knight., cringing inwardly because he hated shopping.

“Yes, you see I found this old recipe book and it tells you how to make a stew that will keep the belly of a dragon full for months and put out the fire deep inside. Giving you more then enough time to get past the dragon and rescue me! But the ingredients are none that I have ever seen. You might have to go to the author of the book to get them.”

“Who is the author of the book and where shall I find her?”

“Her name is Hildagarde and she is a witch who lives two kingdoms over in the Ecstatica Forrest. But the book is very old and so she too must be very old, if she is still around at all. I will give you the list of ingredients.”

“But princess, if I can not climb up to you and we cannot reach each other however will I get the list from you?”

The princess thought and thought and suddenly had an idea. Motioning for her hero to wait for a second, she went over to the book and carefully ripped out the page of ingredients. She folded the paper very carefully until it resembled a bird and sent it sailing out the window and down to the brave knight waiting below.

“Thank you dear lady,” James said with a bow and left promising to return with the magical stew.

Sir James traveled for many days and many nights to reach the land where the witch lived. Finally, he arrived at the entrance to Ecstatica Forrest. He wondered through the dark groves of trees until he stumbled upon a cottage that was so covered in vines, he nearly missed seeing it at all. It looked as if it was part of the trees around it. In fact, after looking at it more closely, it was the base of a very large tree.