Drakestail was very little, that’s why he was called Drakestail. But tiny as he was, he had brains. He started out in life with nothing, but over time he managed to save a great deal of money.
Now the King of this country was exactly the opposite. He spent and spent and never saved any money at all. So when he heard about Drakestail’s fortune, he went to Drakestail’s home and asked to borrow most of it. Drakestail had brains as I said, but he couldn’t help feeling proud that the King himself had come to visit him, and all his friends had seen it happen. He didn’t mind at all lending his money to the King.
A year later, the King had still not paid back any of the money, and Drakestail wasn’t feeling quite so proud. And after two years, he was downright angry! He decided that the only thing to be done was to go to the King and demand his money back. He dressed in his finest outfit and down the road he went, singing
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, WHEN WILL I GET MY MONEY BACK?
He hadn’t traveled far at all when he met up with his friend Fox.
“Good morning, my Friend,” said Fox. “Where are you off to so early this morning?”
And Drakestail said,
I’M GOING TO THE KING TO GET WHAT HE OWES ME.
“Oh! Take me with you,” said the Fox.
Drakestail thought to himself,
YOU CAN’T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS.
And he said to the fox,
“Certainly you may come. But traveling is tiresome. Make yourself very small and go down my throat and into my gizzard and I’ll carry you along with me.” And Fox did exactly that.
Drakestail set off again, singing to himself,
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, WHEN WILL I GET MY MONEY BACK?
He hadn’t traveled very far when he met another friend, Lady Ladder.
“Good morning, Drakestail. Where are you going on this fine day?”
I’M GOING TO THE KING TO GET WHAT HE OWES ME.
“Oh, well! May I go with you?” asked Lady Ladder.
And Drakestail thought to himself,
YOU CAN’T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS.
“Of course you may come. But walking on those wooden legs will make you very tired. Why don’t you make yourself very small and go down my throat into my gizzard with Friend Fox?”
“Brilliant!” said Lady Ladder. And she did exactly that. And Drakestail was on his way again, singing
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, WHEN WILL I GET MY MONEY BACK?
Only a little further along he met yet another friend, River, bubbling along quietly.
“Hello, Drakestail. Where are you traveling today?”
I’M GOING TO THE KING TO GET WHAT HE OWES ME.
“Oh, well!” said River. “May I go along with you?”
Drakestail thought to himself,
YOU CAN’T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS.
“Of course you may. Just make yourself very small and go down my throat into my gizzard with Fox and Ladder and the trip will seem much easier for you.”
“What a lovely thought,” said River. And she did exactly that.
And off went Drakestail, singing,
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, WHEN WILL I GET MY MONEY BACK?
And would you believe he met yet another friend-Wasp Nest!
“Drakestail, friend!” called the wasps. “Where are you off to?”
I’M GOING TO THE KING TO GET WHAT HE OWES ME.
“How exciting!” said the wasps. (They were all a-buzz with excitement.) “Can we go with you?”
Drakestail thought himself
YOU CAN’T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS.
“Certainly you may come. Only make yourself very small and slip down my throat into my gizzard with Fox, Ladder and River? The trip will be so much easier on you that way.”
Wasp-net agreed and off they went again, Drakestail singing,
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, WHEN WILL I GET MY MONEY BACK?
It wasn’t long til Drakestail and his friends arrived at the King’s palace. Drakestail marched right up to the door, singing
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, I’VE COME TO GET MY MONEY BACK!
He knocked right on the door, and the guard asked “Who’s there?”
“It is I, Drakestail. I wish to speak to the King.”
“Oh you do, do you?”
“Yes! Tell him it is I and he knows what I’ve come for.”
The guard shut the door and went in to see the King. The King was just sitting down to dinner, even had his napkin tucked in his collar. All his trusted ministers were there with him when the guard came in and told him what Drakestail had said.
“Ah!” said the King. “Drakestail! Here’s what you can do with him! Put him in the pen with all the turkeys and chickens.”
The guard returned to Drakestail and said, “Follow me.”
“Ha!” thought Drakestail. “They know how important I am!”
And then… the porter led him into the chicken house and locked him in there!
“What!” cried Drakestail. “In the chicken house?” You can imagine how angry he was.
“The King has tricked me. I’ll find a way yet for him to talk to me. Quack, Quack, Quack! When shall I get my money back?”
The chickens were all looking at him in a very unfriendly way. Chickens don’t like those who are different than they are, you know, and Drakestail was muttering to himself and pacing around. They began to circle around him in a very menacing way.
Drakestail thought and thought and thought …. And then he had an idea. “Fox! He’s here with me. He can help!”
FOX, FOX, HURRY FRIEND!
OR DRAKESTAIL'S LIFE IS AT AN END.
And out came Fox and he chased those wicked birds around til they all flew high up into the rafters of the coop.
Drakestail watched all this quite happily, and all the while he was singing
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! WHEN SHALL I GET MY MONEY BACK?
He sang so loudly that the King heard him in the dining hall.
And when his poultry keeper came to tell him what happened in the chicken yard, he was very annoyed.
‘Throw this pesky Drakestail into the well and drown him!” cried the King.
The King’s men grabbed hold of Drakestail then and there and flung him down into the deepest well they could find.
“I’m done for!” cried Drakestail. And then he remembered-his friend Lady Ladder was still with him!
LADDER, LADDER, HURRY FRIEND!
OR DRAKESTAIL'S LIFE IS AT AN END.
Ladder came at once and laid herself against the side of the well, and Drakestail climbed right out. He was no sooner out than he began shouting
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! WHEN SHALL I GET MY MONEY BACK?”
“Aah, this pesky duck! Men! Throw him into the hottest part of the furnace!”
His soldiers grabbed hold of Drakestail and took him down into the cellars, back to the hottest, biggest furnace and threw him in. Drakestail was thinking ahead by now, and as soon as he felt the heat of that fire, he called
RIVER, RIVER, HURRY FRIEND!
OR DRAKESTAIL'S LIFE IS AT AN END.
River flowed out like a ….well, like a river and put out the fire in the furnace. Then she flowed out of the cellar and down the halls, filling them four feet deep.
Let me tell you, the King was furious! He said, “Bring him here! I’ll cut his throat with my sword!” He really was angry.
The soldiers ….at least the ones who hadn’t been washed out of the palace by the flood River had created… grabbed Drakestail and brought him to stand in front of the King. Do you think Drakestail was afraid? He was terrified! But he didn’t show it. And he remembered that he had one friend left in his gizzard. He called out
WASP NEST! WASP NEST! HURRY FRIEND!
OR DRAKESTAIL'S LIFE IS AT AN END.
And out buzzed the wasps-hundreds, thousands of wasps! They flew straight at the King, their stingers ready.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” shouted the King as he ran out of the palace, followed by angry, stinging wasps. The King’s men were right behind him, shouting “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” as more and more wasps chased after them.
Drakestail stood alone in that giant dining hall, very much surprised at the way things had turned out. But then he remembered just why he had come there in the first place and began looking for his money. He said
QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! I’VE COME TO GET MY MONEY BACK!
But hard as he looked, he didn’t find one penny-it had all been spent. He looked everywhere until at last he found himself in the throne room. By this time he was very tired, and he sat down upon the throne to rest.
At that moment, the people of the town came running into the palace. They had seen their King and all his men running out of town and wanted to know why they were deserting the kingdom.
When they saw Drakestail sitting on the throne, they cried out,
“Drakestail, Drakestail, long live our King!
Drakestail, Drakestail, he’s our King!”
Drakestail looked out on them all as if he had always been a king and this was nothing unusual at all. The people placed a crown on his head, and it fitted him perfectly.
“And now,” said Drakestail, “let’s eat! I am so hungry!”
And that’s what they all did!
This is a fun story to tell! Audiences pick up quickly on the repeated phrases. One way to be sure they do this is to pause, then say the phrase a little louder and slower than the rest of the story. Make direct eye contact with the audience, and make a gesture with your hand to indicate that they should join in.
If the audience is still a little shy, stop and issue an invitation, “Why don’t you say this part with me?” As the story progresses, the audience will become more sure of its part in the story and jump right in at the appropriate times.
Sources for other versions of this story:
Lang, Andrew. The Red Fairy Book. Dover Books, 1966. (Originally published byLongmans, Green and Co. in London in 1890.)
Haviland, Virginia. Favorite Fairy Tales Told in France. Little, Brown and Co, 1959.
Forest, Heather. Wonder Tales from Around the World. August House Publishers, Inc, 1995.
