In faraway Moldan, the land of the brave dragon guardians, every time a child is born they are assigned a dragon, who they have to watch over for their entire life. Every dragon is kept locked up by a “7 Lies” lock which is attached by magic to their guardian.

In Moldan, boys and girls train and prepare their hearts to combat all lying because, once they reach the age of seven, the dragons will be big enough to cause havoc. Alina knew this very well. She was dying of curiosity to know what would happen on the day after her dragon’s seventh birthday.

Nothing happened. Life went on as normal, and the same was true every day after that. Alina started to grow impatient and every day she would visit the place where her dragon remained locked up.

“What’s the point in being a guardian if I don't see my dragon and I don't have to do anything special?

The dragon saw her doubts and his evil spirit took on the shape of a mischievous boy who approached her.

“Wow, a female dragon guardian who has doubts…”

“I don’t have any doubts” Alina said, trying to justify herself and appearing offended.

“If that’s the case, why are you here?”

“I’m looking for flowers”.

“And they're so special that you have to look for them here specifically?”

“Yes, because they are magic flowers”

“And why are they magic?” the boy asked further.

“They help to cure very serious illnesses”

“Who do you want to cure?”

“My grandmother”

“Your poor grandmother. What illness does she have?”

“A very rare one, that affects her skin”

“How many days will it take to heal her with those flowers?”

“3”, Alina invented further.

“No: 7!”

“What?”

“7 lies!” shouted the boy while, at the same time, changing his voice and appearance, transforming into a giant dragon.
“Free at last! Ha Ha Ha! That was easy.
You are the worst dragon guardian in the world, you fibber!
Ha Ha Ha!”

The dragon flew off. Unfortunately, it didn't take it long to find the little village and terrorise the guardians. Everybody wondered who could have let it escape but Alina was scared and said nothing. Although the dragon’s power increased with every lie the girl told, it was never enough so at night it transformed into the naughty boy to bother the girl with his questions to extract new lies.
Poor Alina no longer knew what to say to hide the fact that she had let the dragon escape.

Until one day she couldn't take it anymore. Trapped by the shame of her constant lying, and by the pain of causing so much havoc, she decided to undertake one last act of courage: to confess to what she had done and face the dragon alone. When everyone was gathered together she stood up and said:

- It was me who let the dragon escape. Since then I have been telling lie after lie to cover it up ...

Before she could finish the sentence, she felt a terrible fire burning in her chest, and a lightning bolt shot out from inside her. The bolt of lightning swept the skies for a few seconds until it struck the dragon and trapped it, dragging it back to the village like a little lamb. Thanks to that magic bolt, Alina was able to lock the dragon up again, and only then did the bolt and pain disappear from her chest, leaving a fiery mark that never faded.

That is how the guardians discovered the incredible power unleashed by confessing to a lie. However, they still prefer to tell the truth always because, as Alina explained, no matter how powerful a confession was, it hurt really badly...

Translated by Lottie Morris Gallimore and Finn McCrystal, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author: Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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Do you realise that Alina's problems began with a small lie?

What would have happened if she had been braver and admitted to having doubts? Do you think you can cover up a lie by only telling the truth?

The dragon discovers that Alina is lying and, from then on, does whatever it wants with her. Do you realise that when we lie our lies trap us and make us do things that we wouldn't normally do?