In this narrated excerpt from How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup and a group of boys stealthily explore a massive cavern packed with countless sleeping dragons of every colour, size, and species. The passage vividly describes the cavern’s atmosphere—glowworms, flame‑chuffers, and the deep, resonant snoring of the dragons that feels like a heartbeat. Hiccup wrestles with fear, recalling a deer torn apart by a wild dragon, and adopts a mantra of ignorance to stay calm. The boys each hunt for a dragon to claim, revealing personal ambitions: Snotlout boasts about capturing a fearsome Monstrous Nightmare to cement his future as chief, while Dog’s Breath wrestles a heavily‑armoured Gronicle. A tense moment occurs when a Kronkle’s eyes flicker, but the creature remains asleep. Hiccup, guided by a prayer to Loki, selects a cool‑to‑the‑touch, half‑grown brown dragon, securing it in his basket. Meanwhile, Fishlegs, covered in red ink from a rash, becomes desperate to prove himself. Ignoring Hiccup’s warning, he pulls a dragon from the bottom of the pile, causing the entire stack to collapse in a chaotic tangle, eliciting horrified gasps from the group. The excerpt blends rich world‑building, character dynamics, and the perilous stakes of stealing dragons from a sleeping horde.
Chapters
Full of more dragons than Hiccup could have ever imagined existed. There were every possible colour and size, and they included all the species that Hiccup had heard of and quite a few more he hadn't. Hiccup started sweating as he looked around him at pile after pile of animals draped over every available surface. Even hanging upside down from the roof like giant bats. They were all fast asleep, and most of them were snoring in unison. This was a sound so loud and so deep that it seemed to penetrate right into Hiccup's body and vibrate around his soft inside, churning his stomach and bowels and forcing his heart to beat at the same slow dragon pulse. If one, just one, of those countless creatures were to wake up, it would raise the alarm to the others and the boys would meet a horrible death. Hiccup had seen a deer that had wandered too close to a wild dragon cliff Torn to pieces in a matter of minutes. Hiccup closed his eyes. I will not think about it, he said. I will not. None of the other boys were thinking about it. Ignorance is very useful in such circumstances. Their eyes were popping with excitement as they walked through the cave, hands over their noses to keep out the revolting smell Looking for the biggest dragon they could find that would— They left the torches in a pile at the entrance. The cavern was already well lit by the glowworms, huge sluggish animals dotted here and there that shone with a steady yet dim fluorescence, like a low-watt light bulb. And the flame chuffers gave off extra little burns of light that flickered on and off, as they breathed in and out. Predictably, most of the boys headed towards the Pug-Uglies of the Dragon World. Snotlout made a big fuss about grabbing a vicious-looking Monstrous Nightmare, smiling nastily at Hiccup as he did so. Snotlout was the son of Baggybum, The Belly Bear, the Beer Belly, Stoick the Vast's younger brother. He was intending to get rid of Hiccup sometime in the future so that he, Snotlout, would become chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. And a gruesome and terrifying chief Sir Snotlout meant to be would need A properly awesome dragon. Warty Hog and Dog's Breath got into a loudly whispered fight over a Gronicle, a heavily armoured brute with fangs like kitchen knives sticking out in such numbers that it couldn't keep its mouth shut. Dog's Breath won, then managed to drop it as he was trying to bundle it. The weaponry of the beast made a horribly loud clatter as it landed on the floor of the cavern. The Kronkle opened its evil crocodile eyes. Everybody held their breath. The Kronkle stared ahead. It was difficult to tell from its blank expression whether it was awake or fast asleep. Hiccup realised, in an agony of suspense, that the glossamer-thin third eyelid was still down. And there it stayed for a few heart-stopping moments until— It slowly closed its upper eyelids again. Amazingly, not one of the other dragons woke up. A few grumbled groggily before making themselves comfy again, but most were in such a stupor That they had barely even stirred. Hiccup let out his breath slowly. Maybe these dragons were so dead to the world that nothing would wake them. He swallowed hard, muttered a prayer to Loki, the patron saint of sneaky exploits, and edged forward cautiously to grab the most unconscious-looking dragon so he could get out of this nightmare as fast as possible. It is a little-known fact that dragons grow colder the deeper they sleep. It is even possible for a dragon to get into a sleep coma in which they are icy cold with no obvious pulse Or breath or heartbeat. They can stay in this state for centuries, and only a highly skilled expert can tell from looking at them if they are alive or dead. But a dragon who is awake or lightly sleeping is very warm indeed, like bread that has just come out of the oven. Hiccup found one that was about the right size and fairly cool to touch and manoeuvred it into his basket as quickly and carefully as he could. It was a very basic brown, but at that moment Hiccup could not have cared less. Even though it was barely half-grown, it was surprisingly tasty. I did it! I did it! I did it! He chanted happily to himself. At least he wasn't going to be the only boy in the class who didn't have a dragon. Everybody seemed to have got themselves one by now, and they were all making their way quietly towards the exit. Everybody, that was, except Fishlegs, who was already covered in bright red ink. Itchy rash, and was at that very moment approaching a pile of knotty, entangled nadders on very loud tiptoes. Fishlegs was even worse at burglary than Dog's Breath. Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks. Don't do it, Fishlegs, please don't do it, he whispered. But Fishlegs was fed up at Snotlout's taunting and at being sneered at and jeered at. He was going to get himself a really cool dragon that all the other boys would respect. Squinting so hard he could barely see the pile of dragons, his eyes streaming and scratching himself violently, Fishlegs reached slowly towards the bottommost dragon, took one leg in his hand, and gently yanked. The entire pile came crashing down, in a furious tangle of limbs and wings and ears. Everybody in the cavern gave a horrified gasp.
