In this narrated excerpt from the children's fantasy novel How to Train Your Dragon, Lois Letchford reads a dramatic scene where Toothless, the Night Fury, defies his earlier decision to avoid battle and intervenes to save his rider Hiccup from the monstrous Green Death. After Stoick, Hiccup’s father and chief of the tribe, forces Toothless to fly toward Death’s Head Headland, the dragon witnesses Hiccup being captured and tossed into the creature’s mouth. Despite the danger, Toothless returns, tickles the monster’s nostril, and endures a talon strike to distract it. The creature sneezes, expelling Hiccup and Toothless, who then crash‑lands. Toothless catches Hiccup, breaking his fall, while Stoick arrives with a shield to protect his son. The Green Death, wounded but still menacing, prepares to finish them off, setting the stage for a tense showdown. The passage highlights themes of unexpected bravery, the evolving bond between dragon and rider, and the clash between perceived dragon selfishness and acts of self‑sacrifice.
Chapters
And that would have been the end of Hiccup, if it had not been for the extraordinary bravery of a certain Toothless Daydream. Toothless, if you remember, had refused to join the battle at Death's Head Headland. He was intent— Toothless, if you remember, had refused to join the battle at Death's Head headland. He was intending to fly off somewhere down the coast a bit and lie low till it was all safe again, but he stayed at the highest point for a while, terrorising birds and rabbits. He must have been having a lovely time doing this, for he did not hear the approach of Stoick and the entire tribes of hooligans and meatheads until Stoick grabbed him around the neck, Where is my son? said Stoick. Toothless shrugged his shoulders rudely. Where is my son? bawled Stoick with an awe-inspiring yell so loud that Toothless's ears trembled. Toothless pointed to Death's Head Headland. Show me! said Stoick grimly. Under Stoick's fierce eye, Toothless reluctantly flapped off toward Death's Headland, followed by the 2 tribes. They arrived just in time to see the terrible monsters throw Hiccup high in the air and catch him in his mouth like a whelk. So much for the fiendishly clever plan, thought Toothless. He was about to use this opportunity Stoick's obvious distraction to sneak off to a place of safety when something stopped him. Nobody knows what that something was. It was a moment that changed the whole worldview of the Huligan tribe. For centuries, we had believed it was impossible for dragons to consider a selfless thought or a generous action. But what Toothless did next— is impossible to explain as being in his own best interests at the time. All his fellow domestic dragons were now flying somewhere over the Inner Ocean. As soon as they heard Fireworm's cry of desert! Those who were hiding in the caves or between crevices or crouched in the ferns rose up in a great swarm and abandoned their former masters as fast as the wings could carry them. The wild dragons from the Wild Dragon Cliff had left hours before, but something kept Toothless from flying after them. Maybe it was Stoick's heartrending, powerless cry of Nooooo! that caused him to pause. Or maybe somewhere in his Self-centered green dragon heart of his, he really was fond of Hiccup and grateful for the hours they had spent looking after him, not shouting at him, telling him jokes, and giving him the biggest and juiciest lobsters. Dragons are selfish, argued Toothless to himself. Dragons are heartless and amninous. That's what Mama makes us survive! Nonetheless, something made him turn right around, and something made him fold his wing back and fly like a dragon lair to the great monster on the cliff tops, which really was not in Toothless's Best interests, as I said before. Toothless flew right up to the monster's left nostril and started flying up and down inside the nose, tickling it with his wings. The Sea Dragon lunged up and down, wrinkling his nose like crazy and bellowing, Aaaaaaah! The creature struck his great talons up his nose in a disgusting fashion and tried to out the tickling flea that was irritating him. Toothless didn't quite get out of the way of the talon in time, and it scratched him on the chest. He hardly felt it though, as he was excited and carrying on tickling regardless, dodging the probing dragon claw. Aaaaaaah! bellowed the sea dragon. Meanwhile, Hiccup was being thrown this way and that inside the dragon's throat. As it shook its head from side to side, he was trying desperately to hang on to the spear, which was in danger of becoming dislodged any second. Achoo! The dragon finally sneezed and hiccupped the spear. Toothless and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot were scattered over the surrounding countryside. Toothless remembered, as he was shooting through the air, That boys can't fly. He folded his wings and dived after Hiccup, who was rapidly heading towards the ground. Toothless grabbed hold of Hiccup by the arm and tried to take his weight. Dragon talons are extraordinarily strong, and he was able to break Hiccup's fall. Not entirely, but enough so that when Hiccup crashed into the heather, He was travelling reasonably slowly. Stoick came plunging frantically through the grass. He picked up his son and faced the monster, holding his shield over Hiccup's unconscious body. Toothless hid behind Stoick. The Green Death had recovered from his sneezing fit. He shuddered He shuffled forward, bleeding horribly from the fatal wound in his chest and throat. He lowered his terrible head till it was on a level with the top, and his evil yellow eyes looked straight at Stoick. Time to die. For all of us, purred the Green Death. You can't save his life, you know. You are quite, quite hopeless. My fire will melt the shield like butter. The Green Death opened his mouth. He slowly sucked in a breath. Stoick tried to grab onto the chunks of heather to hold them fast, but Stoick, Hiccup, and Toothless were being dragged slowly but surely toward the
