The Black Dragon's Lair

A Very Different Dragon

The Boy bit off a stalk of grass and chewed it. "Going to make a long stay here?" he asked, politely.
"Can't hardly say at present," replied the dragon. "It seems a nice place enough - but I've only been here a short time, and one must look and reflect and consider before settling down. Besides - now I'm going to tell you something! You'd never guess it if you tried ever so! - fact is, I'm such a confoundedly lazy beggar!"
"You surprise me," said the Boy, civilly.
"It's the sad truth," the dragon went on, settling down between his paws and evidently delighted to have found a listener at last: "and I fancy that's really how I came to be here. You see all the other fellows were so active and earnest and all that sort of thing - always rampaging, and skirmishing, and scouring the desert sands, and pacing the margin of the sea, and chasing knights all over the place, and devouring damsels, and going on generally - whereas I liked to get my meals regular and then to prop my back against a bit of rock and snooze a bit, and wake up and think of things going on just the same, you know!?

Kenneth Grahame, The Reluctant Dragon