The Tame Coal Wyrm

There is a small fairy tale I can tell you, that involves one of the new creatures. You will quickly figure out which one.

Once upon a time, there was a baker. He was a honest and hardworking man, living in a small house together with his wife and his little son. The bakery was in the first floor of the house, while the living quarters were located above it. One day, the baker rose and went down to work; when he went to his oven, he saw that the coal stack nearby was lower than he remembered. He was a bit puzzled, but then decided he probably just remembered wrong. But the next day, the pile of coals had shrunken again, and this time the Baker knew the pile had been higher the evening before. And when he told that to his wife and son during breakfast, he noticed the boy looking guilty. When the baker asked his son, the boy squirmed and then said:

"I had to feed the monster or it would have eaten me!" The baker scolded the boy for making up stories and stealing the coal, which cost money, after all. The boy was punished and in the evening, both his father and his mother told him not to put his hands on the coal again.But the next day, there were coals missing again, and the boy soon admitted it had been him to the angry questions of his father. both parents were very angry, not only that the boy had stolen the coals, but also that he persisted in his story about a monster.

So the next night, the boy was not only sent to bed early, the door to his room was locked so he could not get out. After all, the baker didn't want to lose any more coal. Late at night, the baker woke from a loud crash. He listened for a moment, and he heard sounds. Thinking someone had broken into the house, he armed himself with a cudgel and went outside the room where he and his wife slept. The baker sneaked down the stairs into the workroom; he could hear a strange huffing and scraping from below. It was dark in the room when he entered. The only thing he could see was a orange light, as if of two glowing coals.

Thinking someone was carrying coals for light, the baker stealthily went up and brought his cudgel down on where he thought the man was standing. He was, however, quite surprised when the wood bounced and he lost his grip. A roar went up and something hit him and threw him across the room. From where he was lying, the baker could now see a big worm rearing, covered with thick scales. It roared again, baring sharp teeth, and the two glowing eyes that he had taken for coals fixed on him. Desperately, the baker groped around for something to use as a weapon. His hands closed over something small, and he threw it at the beast. The creature caught it in his jaws and swallowed it, and only then did the baker realise it had been a chunk of coal. He crawled over to the pile of coals and began throwing more coals at the worm, and it caught and swallowed each of them.

After a while, the creature gave a satisified burp and left the bakery, its tail swishing behind it. The baker gave a relieved sigh, thanking the gods he had escaped without harm. The next day, he of course told his wife and son about what happened, and the boy was very happy that his father believed him now.

The next night the baker was prepared, and when the monster showed up again, it found a small pile of coals in front of the bakery. It gobbled them up while the baker and his family were watching from a window above. After the pile was gone, the creature vanished again into the night. For every night thereafter, the baker would feed the worm. And soon, the tale of the "tame Coal Wyrm" spread far and wide and the baker became famous. In honor of the nightly visitor, he baked a special good, the coal bread, and the recipe for it is a secret only passed on within the family to this day!