A fable by Sha'Tara, local writer and friend.

The Tale of CoCo the Dragon
 
[a fairy tale of sorts, by Sha'Tara]
 

Once upon a time in the great land of Am, there lived a few very large dragons.  Each was distinguished by his personal color.  One of these was a terrible red dragon called CoCo and his Owners were very proud of him because he always fought his way to the top against his main opponent, a slightly younger  great blue dragon named Peeps. 
 
In those days, the great dragons did not need to leave their native land to grow fat, so they never learned how to fly and their wings grew stunted. 
 
But as we know, the one constant in the universe is change, and being a part of the universe and despite pronouncements to the contrary by the Owners, change forced itself upon the land of Am.  A new breed of dragons began to appear, smaller and hungrier.  These smaller dragons of necessity developed the ability to fly.  Not so well, at first, and many fell prey to the great dragons.  But some managed to escape and by stealth and speed, were able to beat the ponderous great dragons to many a feeding place. 
 
Eventually there came enough of these smaller dragons that the Owners of the great red CoCo (not to mention the Owners of the blue Peeps) became quite agitated.  Their revenues from CoCo's forays upon the land started to drop, and Coco himself often went hungry and became despondent.  Not only that, but the people of the land of Am began to lose faith in the old dragons, and many rhetorical doors were closed against them.
 
The Owners feared these changes were ominous and it was time they should hire handlers for CoCo.  From all over the world these came as soon as they received the summons.  Once gathered on the Hill of Atlan, they were told their task was to make CoCo fly, whatever the costs.  Unwilling to speak the truth of the matter, that obviously CoCo and the other great dragons could never fly, these hirelings assured the Owners they would be able to make the great red dragon take to the air and in a matter of time, clear the land of all lesser dragons. 
 
At first they went for the obvious: CoCo was too fat.  So they cut back on the fleets that brought him his food, and the land holdings he'd been given to wander about in, so he would be motivated to move out, seek his own food and claim new territory for himself.  They captured many of the smaller flying dragons and leashed them all around CoCo so he would see them fly as they sought to escape his belching fire and slashing teeth.  CoCo ran and jumped, but still his wings were too stunted to be of much use.  Another group of handlers tried an new approach:  they attached the large outer scales from the flying dragons' wings unto CoCo's, but when the ponderous mass flapped its ridiculously small appendages, the false add-ons just tore off.
 
Meanwhile, in other lands and with permission of the Owners, other handlers created clones of the great red dragon.  These were not as large, nor were they as bright red as CoCo, but they could not fly either since they followed the same pattern as CoCo's in build (by dictate of the Owners who greatly feared loss of control). 
 
But at least now the Owners had "their dragon" operating all over the world and were no longer as dependent on the food supply from the land of Am.  Of course Peeps' Owners did the exact same thing and red and blue dragons could be seen everywhere one traveled except that now, they were no longer openly fighting each other, though the myth of competition continued to be promoted among the people. 
 
And so, for a time, things carried on.  Smaller dragons were born and flew.  The weak or careless ones were fried and swallowed by CoCo and his clones, or by Peeps and his clones, but enough of them escaped to continue to fluster and frustrate the Owners. 
 
Is there an end to this story?  Oh, yes, there certainly is, but not quite yet.  You see, the Owners still believe, and must believe, that their dragon will eventually spread his mighty wings and fly over the whole world burning and gorging.  To this end, they hire more and more handlers in vain attempts to force the old pertinacious dragon to diet and exercise. 
 
It was said long ago, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, and how much less teach an old ossified dragon with stunted wings to fly! 
 
But then, that little saying comes under the heading of ancient wisdom, and as anyone knows, wisdom is no longer politically correct in Am... and perhaps nowhere else in Never-Never Land either.