In this narrated reading of Chapter 3, “Heroes or Exiles?” from How to Train Your Dragon, Lois Letchford recounts the perilous escape of Hiccup and the other boys from a dragon‑filled gorge. The boys scramble over icy, slippery stones in Madman's Gully when a dragon attacks, prompting Gobber to swing his double‑headed axe and drive the beasts away. After the chaos, Gobber conducts a harsh but comedic debrief, chastising the boys for waking the dragons and outlining the three‑part initiation test for becoming full tribe members. The first part—surviving the dragon assault—has been passed. The next steps require each boy to train a captured dragon, assert their will over it, and demonstrate obedience in commands such as “go,” “stay,” and “hunt.” Gobber mentions the training manual How to Train Your Dragon by Professor Yobbish, which he allegedly stole from the library. He also warns that the dragons are still in hibernation and must be awakened and cared for before the final trial at the Thor’s Thursday celebration. The passage blends tense action, humorous dialogue, and cultural exposition of Viking‑style dragon‑riding tribe rituals.
Chapters
Hello. Lois Letchford reading How to Train Your Dragon. Chapter 3, Heroes or Exiles? The boys scrambled over the slimy pebbles at the edge of the beach and back up Madman's Gully, the gorge they had climbed through a couple of hours before. This was a narrow crack in the cliffs filled with large rocks. They tried to move as quickly as they could, but this is difficult when you are slipping and sliding over huge stones covered in ice, and they made painfully slow progress. A dragon that hadn't been put off by the snow came shrieking down into the gorge. He landed on Warty Hog's back and started savaging him, Sinking his fangs into Wartyod's shoulder and ripping red lines into his arms, Gobba bashed the dragon on the nose with the handle of his axe, and the dragon let go and flapped away. But a whole wave of dragons replaced him, pouring into the canyon with awful rasping cries, fire shooting from their nostrils and melting the snow before them, talons spread wickedly as they swooped downward. Gobber stood legs wide apart and whirled his big double-headed axe. He threw back his great hairy head and yelled a terrible primeval yell that echoed through the sides of the gorge and made the hairs on the back of Hiccup's neck stand straight up Like the spines of a sea urchin. Individually, dragons tend to have a healthy sense of self-preservation, but they are braver when they hunt in packs. They know now that they had the advantage of massive numbers, so they don't check their flying for an instant. They just kept on coming. Gobba, let go of the axe! Spinning end to end, The axe soared up through the soft falling snow. It hit the biggest dragon a lot, killing him instantly, and then carried on, going, landing in the snowdrift hundreds of feet away and disappearing. This made the rest of the dragons think a bit. Some of them scrambled over each other in their haste to fly away, yelping like dogs. The others came to a halt, hovering uncertainly. Screaming defiance, but keeping their distance. Waste of a good axe, grunted Gobber. Keep going, boys! They could come back! Hiccup needed no encouragement to keep going. As soon as he got out of the gorge and onto the marshy land behind him, he broke into a stumbling run, every now and then falling flat on his face in the snow. Sometime later, When Gobba reckoned they were a safe distance from Wild Dragon Cliff, he yelled at the boys to stop. Very carefully, he counted heads again to check he hadn't lost anybody. Gobba had spent an unpleasant 10 minutes standing at the mouth of the dragon's cave, wondering why there was such a terrible racket and what he was going to say to Stoick, the vast, If he lost his precious son and heir for good. Something tactful and sensitive, he supposed. But tact and sensitivity were not Gobba's strong points, and he took the first 5 minutes to come up with— Hickocoptered. Sorry. And then spent the second 5 minutes tearing his beard out. Consequently, Although secretly mightily relieved, he was not in a good mood, and as soon as he could get his breath back, he exploded all over the place as the boys stood shivering violently in a bedraggled line. Never in 14 years have I come across such a hopeless barnacles as you lot! Which of you useless molluscs was responsible for waking up the dragons? I was, said Hiccup, which wasn't strictly true. Oh, that's brilliant! bellowed Gobber. Just brilliant! Our future leader shows off his magnificent leadership skills. At the tender age of 10 and a half, and he does his best to annihilate himself and the rest of you in a simple military exercise. Snortlout snickered. And you find something amusing about that, Snortlout? asked Gobba, his dangerous softness. Everybody is on limpet rations for the next 3 weeks. The boys groaned. Smart work, Hiccup, sneered Snotlout. I can't wait to see you in action on the battlefield. Silence! said Gobber. This is your initiation, not a day out in the country. Silence, or you'll be lunching on lugworms for the rest of your life. Now, continued Gobber more calmly, although that was an absolute mess, it wasn't a total disaster. I presume that you all have a dragon after that fiasco? Yes, chortled the boys. Fishlegs took a sideward glance at Hiccup, who was staring straight ahead. Lucky for you, said Gobba ominously. So you have all passed the first part of the dragon test. There are, however, still 2 parts that you have to complete before you can become full members of the tribe. Your next task will be to train this dragon yourself. This will be a test of force of your personality. You will assert your will over this wild creature and show it who is master. Your dragon will be expected to obey simple commands such as go and stay and hunt and fish for you in the way that dragons have hunted for the sons of Thor since anybody can remember. If you are worried about the training process, You should study the book called How to Train Your Dragon by Professor Yobbish, which you will find in the fireplace of the Great Hall. Suddenly, Gobble looked very pleased with himself. I stole the book from the Meathead Public Library myself, he said modestly, regarding his very black fingernails. From right under the nose of the hairy, scary librarian. He never noticed a thing. Now that's burglary for you. Warty Hog put up his hand. What happens if we can't read, sir? No boasting, Warty Hog Boon Gobber. Get some idiot to read it to you. Your dragons will begin to go to sleep. Because this is still their hibernation time. Some of the dragons had indeed gone very quiet inside their baskets. So take them home and put them in a warm place. You should wake them up in the next couple of weeks. Then you will have only 4 months to prepare for initiation day at the Thor's Thursday celebration. And the final part of your test. If, on that day, you can prove that you have trained your dragons to the satisfaction of myself and the other elders of the tribe, you can finally call yourself a Hooligan of the Dragon Tribe.
