Gold is great. Don’t get me wrong. Who doesn’t love a soft, clinky pile of gold? But after a few hundred years, you get the knack of acquiring it. More is nice. More is always nice. But not exactly a challenge, ya know what I mean?
Some of us have branched out.
History Dragon. Collects facts. Not just names and dates, although many of those. What plants grew in the the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. How *was* Stonehenge built? Will often be found staging historical reenactments in pursuit of possible answers. History Dragons are great fun at LARPS, as long as you are willing to listen to the occasional 20-minute lecture on how to correctly recreate the historical accuracy of the fabric in your costume.
Cooking Dragon. Collects recipes. Knows over 200 ways to make dumplings. Collects cross-cultural comparisons, such as the prevalence of fried bread products: doughnuts, zeppole, churros, and so on. Good cooks, although accepting a dinner invitation from one is a gamble. Might be a three-star meal. Might be a seven-course meal focusing on legumes. Chickpea ice cream anyone?
Pop Dragon. Collects the zeltgeist. What song holds the record for #1? What was the hottest selling toy in 1969? It is considered unsporting to have a Pop Dragon on your trivia team.
Art Dragon. Collects art techniques, from fine oils to paint-by-number, from origami to reworking Breyer models. Will get into long discussions with history dragons over the composition of pre-modern dyes. Likes to work as a substitute art teacher to see what kids will come up with when presented with a pile of toilet paper rolls & an Erector Set.
Animal Dragon. Collects animals. Very conservation minded. Do NOT ask them about specimens. They “collect” animals by being in the presence of each one, the same way birders keep a life list. Some animal dragons are avid birders. One animal dragon who specializes in insects went into the Amazon basin several years ago and has not been seen since. They’re fine. We get emails.
Rock Dragon. As above, with minerals.
Dragon Dragon. Collects literature & art about dragons. Can often be prevailed upon to read aloud the more amusing passages.
~~~ Curtain ~~~
Afterword.
Influenced by Dragon Ever After, by Louisa Masters, 2021. M/M romance with shape-shifting dragons.
Fiction 4U. Tor.com The Fifth Dragon, Ian McDonald, 2015
Non-fiction 4U. Tor.com: The Ultimate Fantasy Beast: The Dragon, Judith Tarr, 2022. The Atlantic: No Old Maps Actually Say ‘Here Be Dragons’, But an ancient globe does, Robinson Meyer, 2013. Hic sunt dracones. The latter may be paywalled. Shows up on my desktop, not on my phone. Go figure.
Answers. Smithsonian: Taylor Swift Sets Record for Longest No. 1 Song, Beating Out ‘American Pie’ and the Beatles, The pop star’s 10-minute, 13-second rerecording of “All Too Well” debuted at the top spot in Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, McGreevy, 2021. Snoopy Astronaut. Reader’s Digest: The Most Popular Toy the Year You Were Born, Roland, 2022.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
Who knew? 😊
I highly recommend Naomi Novak’s His Majesty’s Dragon and the entire series, especially for Patrick O’Brian fans.
Taylor Swift? Taylor Swift?? Over American Pie and the Beatles? What has the world come to?
Dragons are GREAT. I remember one of the first things I ever learned about Tolkien is that he was a linguist and a scholar of Old English who did a translation of Beowulf. Then I read “The Hobbit” and met Smaug, and thought, “Wow that is so perfect, hahaha!”