| The Dragon | |
| Author: | Ray Bradbury |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Published In: | Esquire |
| Publication Type: | Periodical |
| Media Type: | Print (Magazine) |
| Pub Date: | August 1955 |
| The Dragon | |
| Author: | Ray Bradbury |
| Illustrator: | Ken Snyder |
| Cover Artist: | Ken Snyder |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Fantasy short story |
| Publisher: | Footsteps Press |
| Release Date: | 1988 |
| Media Type: | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages: | 15 pp |
"The Dragon" is a short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, originally published in 1955 in the magazine Esquire. A limited edition (352 copies, signed and numbered or lettered) of the story was published by Footsteps Press in 1988.It appears in A Medicine for Melancholy (1959), R is for Rocket (1962), Classic Stories 1 (1990), and Bradbury Stories (2003).
The story concerns two knights who have a mission to slay a dragon. They describe the dragon as huge, fire-breathing, and horrific, having only one eye. They charge the dragon but fail, presumably dying in the attempt.
The "dragon" is then revealed to be a steam train, and its single eye is the train's headlight. The operators discuss the encounter but continue on without attempting to find the knights.
. Jack L. Chalker . Mark Owings . The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 . Westminster, MD and Baltimore . Mirage Press, Ltd.. 264 . 1998.