Kenneth Grahame’s fairytale ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ is a story within a story of a young boy who befriends a dragon. It plays on the stereotype of a fairytale as the dragon rejects the usual antics of dragons to fight and capture princesses, but rather favours to lie in the sun and recite poetry. Learning the dragon to be harmless, the boy must prevent St George from slaying it. 

Unlike many simple fairytales Grahame’s prose is beautifully written, the events are explained and the characters are loveable. It brought in literary illusion and was full of beautiful imagery, and honestly this little story just made me extremely happy. I question why ‘Wind in the Willows’ gets all the acclaim.