Dragon King of the West

The Dragon King of the West is a story that is sometimes performed in theaters, but often retold as a bedtime story to kids or around campfires between travelers. It is a story that warns of the dangers of greed and is based on the historical events surrounding the Kingdom of Westzell  

The Story

Although the King of the West was loved by all his sons and all his daughters, his subjects were not as fond of his rule and his greedy ways. Even though his self proclaimed kingdom became quite wealthy, in the taverns and inns he was called the Dragon King. But, as it would turn out, he certainly was not as mighty as a dragon.   The king’s cruelty and greed had slowly grown over the years and he became paranoid of thieves and traitors. So it came as a surprise that one fateful year he invited the people to celebrate the Summer Solstice in the royal district. The feast was beyond compare and lasted for 5 days and 5 nights. There was food aplenty, jugglers, fools, and music was played deep into every night and the people rejoiced.   On the last night the king invited all his barons to the throne room, and with a laugh he requested payment in full from each and every one of them for the festivities they had enjoyed the past few days. The barons, still full of ale and wine, meat and delicacies thought it to be a joke, and left the throne room laughing. They all went back to their homes, and a week passed by before a royal guard came to lay claim on all of the gold and treasure from a baron's mansion. Upon refusal, they set the mansion ablaze and burned it down to ashes. Two more mansions were burned down to ashes, and all their owners sent to the dungeons. The fourth baron conceded and saw their gold and treasures carted off to the keep of the king. Needless to say, the rest of the barons surrendered their payment more willingly. The king made sure to replace the barons with spineless people that would not stand up to his wishes. Making sure that every single one would pay their dues.   When all the gold had been brought before the king, he had it melted down and made into a solid gold throne. Among the riches the king found an enormous ruby which he had the craftspeople set into the back of the chair, just above his head. As the king sat down upon the throne, the light reflecting off the gold and the ruby made it look like hhe basked in the flames of a holy fire. For many years, the Dragon King stacked the gold around the throne and grew ever suspicious of those around him. He spent years in the throne room, never leaving his treasures out of sight. Every year he would levy more tax, and so the hoard of gold in the palace grew.   But as even fools know, wealth will attract those who seek it, and it was not long before a band of foolhardy kobolds from the mountains tried to assault the kingdom and claim its riches. They wanted the throne, but they did not expect to be met with sharpened metal and having to flee with only a claw full of worthless trinkets haphazzardly taken from the people on the streets. Two weeks later the kobolds returned at night, in far greater numbers. They silently slit the throats of the guards and snuck inside the city walls. The kobolds' thirst for riches was relentless, and many people out on the streets were slaughtered in the same way as the guards. As panic ensued throughout the city, a winged shape blocked out the moonlight in the nightsky. A mighty roar was followed by fire from the red dragon’s maw, flames blazed through the streets, setting buildings on fire and burning it’s citizens alive. The dragon left the scraps to the kobolds, who killed, looted and burned the rest of the city as the massive winged beast set his eyes on the true prize of the city: the royal palace.   The Dragon King sat on his throne, quivering, clutching gold coins as the fire blasted the doors open and melted the windows as the red dragon came into the throne room. Mountains of coins melted into rivers of gold that poured out the throne room and the Dragon King sank into a casket of molten gold. The kingdom now had a new and proper Dragon King, who would sit on their golden throne for ages to come.