The Most Worthy

Pricilla shook her scales and stretched her long, jagged tail until the tip scratched the earthen wall. She yawned, flexing her claws into a pile of gleaming gold coins. As the morning sun poured through a small crack in her cave, Pricilla took stock of her surroundings.   

It was a hoard to make any rival dragon green with envy. In one corner were various golden plates, goblets, and eating utensils. Another corner housed jewelry: necklaces, earrings, and crowns of indignant, but otherwise delicious, kings. Towards the mouth of the cave, almost spilling out into the sunshine, was an assortment of miscellaneous treasures: shimmering candlesticks, portrait frames, and even some golden teeth. Finally, underneath Pricilla’s massive belly was a mound of gold coins that would make any banker blush. Each addition to her collection had been painstakingly acquired. Each former owner of the trinkets had been scrumptiously devoured. Pricilla's belly swelled with pride in her treasures, but there was still that nagging feeling.... What now?  

Pricilla had grown much larger over the past few centuries, and she could not deny that space in her cave was at a premium. She could barely turn around anymore without first shifting some of her piles. It made fighting troublesome knights more annoying and got in the way of her morning stretches. Getting a larger cave wasn’t an option. How would she transport her hoard without encountering attacks from the entire village?   

Pricilla sighed. It was lonely (and cramped) at the top. She dreaded the thought of being separated from any of her treasures, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she found a worthy recipient. After all, she wasn’t heartless. Sure, she wouldn’t hesitate to roast a foolish knight or a lord whose bulging coin purse beckoned her. But comfort and old age had made her soft.   

Pushing aside some glittering swords, Pricilla made her way out of the cave. She slinked gracefully down the mountainside, stopping behind a moss-covered boulder where she sometimes liked to observe the road. From here, she would often assess travelers and select any that she thought no longer needed their possessions (or lives). But today, she watched for a different reason. Maybe someone coming down this path would be worthy of her gold. But how could she tell?  

Suddenly, she hatched a plan. Bolting back up the mountain, she burst into her cave and scooped up as many coins as she could carry. Transporting them back down, she dropped the coins in the middle of the road and formed them into a neat pile. “Now,” she thought, “I’ll just observe what the travelers decide to do with the gold. That will indicate their worth.”  

It took very little time until the first travelling party sped down the road. It appeared to be a wealthy merchant and his wife. They were arguing in their carriage as the driver violently urged the horses onward. Upon spotting the gold, the wealthy merchant shouted, “Stop!” He leaped out to investigate, and, upon discerning that his eyes had not deceived him, he shoved handfuls of coins into his deep pockets and sauntered back to the carriage. “Looks like there’s no need to argue anymore,” he quipped at his wife, “Get some bags for the rest of this. We have enough gold now to buy that fancy manor you’ve been going on about.” While Pricilla had nothing against domestic tranquility, this was not exactly a satisfying use of the gold. So, she roasted the three of them up (letting the horse run free of course) and added their bit of gold to her collection.   

Next down the road was a ragged band of soldiers, heading towards some battle Pricilla didn’t really care about. The man who appeared to be leading them spotted the gold first. “What luck!” he shouted, “This will certainly bolster the war effort. We will report this acquisition to our dear nobleman, and he will be so pleased.” The other soldiers, who were looking a bit hungry and worn, exchanged greedy glances. In a flash, one of them thrust his knife into the leader. As he bled out, the other soldiers scrambled to scoop up the coins, nudging and shoving each other in their haste. Pricilla appreciated the naked greed and initiative, but she was not satisfied, so she roasted this group as well.  

After a little while, a graceful black cat came strolling down the road. She held her long, majestic tail high, as if daring any superstitious humans to challenge her. She glanced at the gold and lazily wandered up to the pile. She had been walking all day and was feeling drowsy. So, she stretched out, yawned wide, and curled up on top of the mound of gold.  

“Yes!” exclaimed Pricilla. The cat jumped. “You understand what to do with a pile of gold!” The cat was startled to see a dragon, but Pricilla quickly explained the situation and immediately felt they had a kinship in their general disdain for humans. After hammering out the details of the exchange, Pricilla carried the cat back to her lair and deposited her on the massive coin pile. The ruffled cat was immediately swallowed up in the dragon-shaped depression left over from her many naps, so Pricilla needed to move some coins around to make the space more comfortable. Finally satisfied that the cat was cozy enough, Pricilla stepped out of the cave. She unfurled her massive wings underneath the wide-open sky, now tinged with streaks of pink and orange. Taking one last look at her former home, Pricilla knew that it would be guarded by a creature of equal ferocity and appreciation for her gold. She was free now to set up a new cave – one with lots of potential for the new treasures she would acquire.  

With Pricilla gone, the cave fell quiet. The setting sun cast a sliver of light through the same small crack, directly onto the cat in her coin pile. She kneaded the coins for a bit, tucked her tail under her chin, and drifted off to sleep.