20 EPILOGUE BY HICCUP

EPILOGUE BY HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD, THE LAST OF THE GREAT VIKING HEROES. So that is the story of how, on my twelfth birthday, I came to liberate the Meathead Public Library. My father kept his promise, and gave a passionate speech at the next meeting of 'the Thing' arguing that books were not dangerous, but could be helpful to the Viking Tribes. And such was his influence at that meeting, that the ban on books was lifted, the Library was open to the public once more, and the Driller-Dragons were prevented from grazing in its halls. I have spent many happy hours in that very Library, wandering down the quiet corridors, and opening each book is like opening a door into other times, other worlds. It reminds of me of that time when I discovered the Dragonwhisperer's Way… I myself grew up to be not only a Hero, but also a Writer. When I was an adult, I re-wrote A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, and I included not only some

descriptions of the various deadly dragon species, and a useful Dragonese Dictionary, but also this story of how the book came to be written in the first place. This is the book that you are holding in your hands right now. Perhaps you even borrowed it from a Library? If so, thank Thor that the sinister figure of the Hairy Scary Librarian is not lurking round a corner, hiding in the shadows, Heart-Slicers at the ready, or that the punishment for your curiosity is not the whirring whine of a Driller-Dragon's drill. You, dear reader, I am sure cannot imagine what it might be like to live in a world in which books are banned. For surely, such things will never happen in the Future? Thank Thor that you live in a time and a place

where people have the right to live and think and write and read their books in peace, and there are no need for Heroes any more… And spare a thought for those who have not been so lucky.