182.365 - the dragon and the princess

the dragon glanced at his wristwatch
looked annoyed at the princess trussed up on the stake
“I have been fair,” he claimed
“I made it known far and wide that any honorable man
had until noon today to rescue you.  Here it is ten til
and no one’s come.  What’s wrong with men today?”
the princess wondered whether to treat the question
as rhetoric, then decided an answer might buy a little time
“You see,” she said, “you made several mistakes”
The mighty dragon blinked and gasped
“I beg your pardon, I am accounted wise!  Mistakes?”
“Yes,” she said, “you haven’t kept up with the times.”
“You mean that trashy newspaper?” the dragon complained
“I’ve tried, but its so full of gibberish I burn it
before I can get through it.  Who cares what high heeled sandals
Penelope wears today?  Or whether the Prince wore red or white.
You have seven wars going on around the globe.
don’t actions in any one of them deserve a mention?”
The princess nodded, “See?  You are such an old gentleman
you’ve lost our perspective entirely.
Yes, we have a war for every day of the week, but frankly
who can remember what any of them is about?
Today side X will kill a thousand soldiers from side Y,
and tomorrow one of the allies will slide from side X to Y.
No one can keep track long enough to know when to cheer!
It’s far more important to know which oil owner woke up grumpy,
but nobody reports that.  The best clue we may have
is what shoe Penelope decides to wear.”
The dragon fumed.  He shook his mighty head.
“That’s not how the world should work.
Wars are important, so are princesses,
and lord knows dragons should be!”
“I’m not done,” the princess said, “you keep interrupting.”
The dragon looked as astounded as he could.
“You’re right,” he said, “Say on.”
“You aimed your challenge specifically at honorable men.
They’re all at war, or recovering from what wars did to them.
they haven’t time for dragons and for princesses.
The men who have the time are busy playing money games
and have no interest in wars, dragons, or princesses
or honor for that matter.”  The dragon studied her
then shrugged.  With one talon he cut her free without harming her
she mounted on his neck and he flew her home.
Her parents had hissies about where she’d been.