The Dog Who Challenged a King

This is the story of how Philip, a royal dog, challenged the king of Barcelona and won.
== Story ==
In the kingdom of Barcelona, a long time ago, there lived a very mean king who only cared for himself. The king is not only mean, but very greedy. He heavily taxed the people, he steals farm animals from the farmers, and he imprisons people without any means. The king even executes innocent men without even listening to their story.
One day, the king prepared a feast to celebrate his birthday and some of the people in Barcelona had no choice but to attend the feast. At the feast, the king had proclaimed, "My dear friends, I've brought you all here to celebrate your dear king's birth and I tell you that I'm the best king in all of the world!" Now, the king had a pet dog named Philip and he's the nicest dog in all of Barcelona.
After Philip had heard what the king had said, he walked up to him. "My dear king," said Philip, as he stood up like a man, "You know that you are a great ruler, but do the people like you?" The king was surprised by what Philip asked. He replied, "Of course they do like me, Philip. Everyone knows that." But the people stood up from their seats and shouted, "We don't like you, Your Majesty! You'd taxed us heavily, steal our animals, imprisoned the poor, and kill innocent men! We demand a new king!"
The king was completely shocked. "Well, I never!" the king angrily said, "If you people want a new king, how are you going to get one?" That's when Philip had an idea and he said, "How about a contest? You and I will compete to see who will be a great ruler. If I win, I'll be king." The king agreed to the idea and said, "Very well then. But if I win, I'll show you that I'm the greatest king of Barcelona."
So, everyone in Barcelona had heard about the contest and ran to the city gates to see Philip competing against the king. The commissioner stood before the people and hold up a list. "On this list," The commissioner said, "Are three things that the king and Philip are going to find. First, they'll have to find a dragon's tooth. Second, a branch from a silver tree. And third, the most beautiful feather from a special bird." Then the commissioner gave Philip and the king the lists and they went in two different directions.
Philip walked through the woods for a long time, until he came to a huge mountain, where a dragon lives. He climbed up the mountain, until he came to a cave. Philip heard a roar from inside the cave. It was the dragon. "Come out and fight me, dragon! I know you're in there!" Philip cried. Then he felt the ground shake as a huge blue and white dragon came stomping out. The dragon looked down at the dog and he was mad. "Well, well," the dragon said in a deep, low voice. "A poor defenseless dog like you has entered my lands without permission. Now, you'll face my wrath!"
The dragon slashed his claw at Philip and, to the dragon's amazement, the dog had dodged the claw. The dragon kept slashing at the dog and Philip kept dodging the dragon's claw everytime. Just then, the dragon opened its mouth and prepared to eat the dog. But Philip jumped and kicked a tooth right out of the dragon's mouth. As Philip picked up the tooth, the dragon screamed in pain and Philip made his getaway. "Now, I have two more things to find." said Philip as he put the tooth into the sack.
Meanwhile, the king is having trouble finding a dragon, so he'd came to a beach and found a shark's tooth in the sand. 'Maybe,' he thought. 'I better take something else in place of the dragon's tooth.' So, the king took the shark's tooth, put it in the sack, and went on his way.
Back with Philip, he'd came to a field full of fog. To make sure he can find his way out, Philip had tied a bright yellow string on a tree and he unraveled it as he walked through the fog. Once he'd came out from the fog, Philip saw the silver tree and was about to grab a branch. That is when an ogre jumped out, pushed Philip back, saying, "Stay back! This tree is property of the ogres! Nobody can take its branches!" Thinking fast, Philip took a stone and threw it at the ogre. The stone hit the ogre in the head and the ogre fell flat on the ground. Philip then took a branch from the silver tree and made his way back through the fog with the two items he had found
The king got tired of finding the silver tree, until he took a silver pipe thinking that it's a silver branch. A plumber saw what the king did and tried to take the pipe back. But the king thought the plumber was a thief and he killed him with his sword.
As Philip walked through the forest, looking for a rare bird, he heard someone calling for help. Philip ran until he saw a pink bird in a tree, being attacked by a lion. He scared the lion away by barking at it and the bird was relieved for Philip saving her. She came down from the tree, came up to Philip, and said, "Noble dog, as Queen of the Birds, I think you for saving me." To his realization, Philip found out that the pink bird is the Queen of the Birds, the rarest bird in the world.
She asked Philip if there is anything she can do in return and the dog told the queen about the contest and asked if he can have one of her feathers. "Of course, you can." replied the queen as she plucked one of her feathers. "Take one of my feathers and I wish you the best luck." Philip took the feather, thanked the queen, and made his way back to Barcelona.
As the king was heading back to Barcelona, he had found a feather of a hawk and decided to take it. So, both the king and Philip had made back to Barcelona, where the commissioner was waiting for them. They gave the commissioner the sacks and he carefully looks over each item. Then the commissioner got the results and said, "The winner of the contest is... Philip!" The people cheered and the king was completely shocked. "This is an outrage!" the king shouted. "How did Philip won?" The commissioner answered, "Because Philip is a kind dog and he'll do anything to help those in need."
After the king was imprisoned, Philip was made king of Barcelona. He taxed the people lightly, gave all the stolen animals back to the farmers, and had released all the people the mean king had imprisoned. If the people had any problem, they'll get advice from their new righteous dog king, Philip the Wise.
THE END
Category:Books
Category:Story