Dragon Against His Will

“The Dragon Unwillingly” is a collection of fantastical stories by Kira Izmailova. Here live the truest fairy-tale characters, brave heroes, and ordinary people.

For a mercenary, the task is ordinary at first glance: save a beautiful girl from the claws of a ferocious dragon. Only dragons are very often not at all who they seem to be—and it may not be the girl who needs rescuing at all. What really happened will be told in the story “A Hero for the Dragon.”

The story “A Forest Fairy Tale” is about ancient forests that people went into only reluctantly, and only when absolutely necessary. And the boy Leri, born lame and half-blind, was always drawn to the forest; one day, breaking the ban and going beyond the edge of the woods, he met there—deep in the fairy-tale thicket—his fate.

“By the Bluest Sea” is a story about a boy who became an orphan early and set out onto the sea. One day he got such a catch that he could barely handle it. And when he finally saw who exactly had ended up in his nets, he didn’t lose his nerve—he made a wish. No, he didn’t ask for treasure from sunken ships. He only asked for a new boat—but he received not only that…