a synopsis

Our story is about a brother and a sister who live together in a tumble down cottage by the side of a huge lake.

The brother believes that the Dragon King lives at the bottom of the lake but the sister doesn’t. In fact they argue all the time, mostly about the fact that the brother fishes all day long but never catches anything whilst the sister works non-stop to try to grow vegetables, to feed the hens, tend the plum trees and clean the house. The only thing she actually does well is make jam.

The brother has a pretend friend with whom he has pretend adventures- much to the annoyance of his sister who tries to wake him from these dreams.

Eventually the brother tries to fish properly but his new hook sinks to the bottom of the lake disturbing the Dragon King himself and so causing the lake to overflow leaving mud and muck all through their tumble-down cottage. The brother see a little girl rising out of the lake and she asks him to dive to the bottom of the lake with her to remove his fishing hook which is stuck in the mouth of her father - the Dragon King. She puts an air bubble around the brother’s head so that he can breathe under water and they dive into the lake. The Dragon King’s mouth is huge, his teeth like huge stalagmites and stalactites. The hook had lodged itself in the very roof of the enormous mouth so that the brother had to climb up on the girl to remove it.

The dragon is so delighted that the hook has gone that he tells the brother there will be a reward for him when he gets home. But all the brother finds is a little blue fish in a jam jar. The sister wants to throw the fish into the lake but after they’ve both had a snooze the house is mysteriously completely cleaned from the flooding. Over the next few days the veggies grow well, the hens lay lots of eggs and the plums drip from the tree. The brother and sister realise that the blue fish is bringing them luck and the brother is determined to discover how the fish manages all its magical work.

In the night he sees the fish turn into the little girl again and the sister invites her to stay with them on land and learn how to make jam and laugh and play together. The brother makes her new strong bones for her new life on land and they thank the Dragon King for the gift he has given them.