Lois Letchford Reads "How to Train Your Dragon" Part 4

Hello, Lois Letchford reading from How to Train Your Dragon, Chapter 2, Inside the Dragon Nursery. You've probably guessed by now that Hiccup was not your natural Viking hero. For a start, he didn't look like a hero. Somebody like Snotlout, for instance, was tall, muscly, and covered in skeleton tattoos, and already had the beginnings of a small moustache. This consisted of a few straggly yellow hairs clinging to his upper lip and was deeply unpleasant to look at, but still impressively manly for a boy not yet 13. Pickup was on the small side and had the kind of face that was almost entirely unmemorable. He did have heroic hair, which was very bright red and stood up vertically however much you tried to wet it down with seawater. But nobody ever saw that because it was hidden under his helmet most of the time. You would never have picked Hiccup out of those 10 boys to be the hero of this story. Snotlout was good at everything and a natural leader. Dog's Breath was as tall as his father and could do amusing things like farting to the tune of the Berk national anthem. Hiccup was just absolutely average, the kind of unremarkable, skinny, freckled boy who was easy to overlook in a crowd. So when Gobber blew the horn and moved out of sight to find a comfortable rock to sit on and eat his mussel and tomato sandwich, Snotlout pushed Hiccup out of the way and took charge. Okay, listen up, boys, he whispered in a menacing fashion. I'm in charge, not the useless, and anybody who objects gets a knuckle sandwich from Dog's Breath the Durrbrain! Grunted Dogsbreath, pounding his fists together in happy excitement. Dogsbreath was Snotlout's chief sidekick and a great big gorilla of a boy. Bash him, Dogsbreath, to show what I mean! Dogsbreath was delighted to oblige. He gave Hiccup a shove that sent him sprawling headfirst into the snow, then ground his face Pay attention! hissed Snotlout. The boys dragged their eyes away from Dog's breath and hiccup and paid attention. Rope yourselves together. The best climber should go first. Well, that's you, of course, Snotlout, said Fishlegs. You're the best at everything, aren't you? Snotlout looked at Fishlegs. Suspiciously. It was difficult to tell whether Fishlegs was laughing at him or not because of his squint. That's right, Fishlegs, I am! And just in case he had been laughing at him— Bash him, Dog's Breath! While Dog's Breath pushed Fishlegs down to join Hiccup in the snow, Snotlout bossily Ordered everybody to rope themselves together. While Dog's Breath pushed Fishlegs down in the snow to join— while Dog's Breath pushed Fishlegs down to join Hiccup in the snow, snot loud. But while Dog's Breath pushed Fishlegs down To join Hiccup in the snow snotlout, Bossily ordered everyone to rope themselves together. Hiccup and Fishlegs were the last to be tied on, just behind a flushed and triumphant Dog's Breath. Oh, brilliant, muttered Fishlegs. I'm about to enter a cave full of man-eating reptiles, tied up to 8 complete maniacs. If we get to the cave, said Hiccup nervously, looking at the sheer black cliff. Hiccup put the lighted torch between his teeth to leave his hands free and started climbing after the others. It was a perilous climb. The rocks were slippery with snow, and the other boys were Thoroughly overexciting, making the ascent far too quickly. At one point, Clueless missed his footing and fell, luckily onto Dog's Breath, who caught him by the back of the trousers and heaved him back onto the rock again before he brought the whole lot of them down. When they finally made it to the mouth of the cave, Hiccup looked down briefly at the sea pounding the rocks way below and swallowed very hard. Untie thy ropes, ordered Snotlout, his eyes popping with excitement at the thought of the dangers to come. Hiccup goes into the cave first. He is the son of the chief, he sneered. And if any of the dragons are awake, he'll be the first to know about it. Once we're in the cave, it's every man for himself. Only the strong can belong. Although he wasn't— although he wasn't your usual mindless thug of a hooligan, Hiccup wasn't a wimp either. Being frightened is not the same as being a coward. Maybe he was as brave as anyone else there because he went to catch a dragon despite knowing what dragons are like. And when he had climbed perilously to the mouth of the cave and had found that inside was a long and twisted tunnel, he still went down. Although he wasn't your usual mindless thug of a hooligan, Hiccup wasn't a wimp either. Being frightened is not the same as being a coward. Maybe he was as brave as anyone else there because he went to catch a dragon despite knowing what dragons are like. And when he had climbed perilously to the mouth of the cave and had found that inside there was a long twisted tunnel, he still went down it. Despite not being too keen on long twisty tunnels with dragons at the end of them. The tunnel was dripping and clammy. At times it was high enough for the boys to walk upright. Then it would close down into narrow claustrophobic holes and the boys could only just squeeze through, squirming on their stomachs. with the flares held in their mouths. After 10 long minutes of walking and crawling into the heart of the cliff, the stench of dragon, a salty stink of seaweed and old mackerel heads, got stronger and stronger until finally it became unbearable and the tunnel opened out into a ginormous cavern. The cavern was