Cressida cowell how to train your dragon

Cressida cowell how to train your dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III #1)

Cressida Cowell

CONTENTS

2. Inside the Dragon Nursery 14

4. How to Train Your Dragon 46

5. A Chat with Old Wrinkly, 6l

7. Toothless Wakes Up 69

8. Training Your Dragon the Hard Way, 81

9. Fear, Vanity, Revenge, and Silly Jokes 89

10. Thor’sday Thursday 103

11. Thor is Angry 127

12. The Green Death. 145

13. When yelling doesn’t. 156

14. The fiendishly clever plan. 166

15. The Battle at Death’s Head Headland 177

17. In the Mouth of the Dragon. 186

19. Hiccup the Useful, 200

20. Epilogue by the Author 211

[Map: Isle of Berk]

[Map: Meathead islands ]

A Note from the Author

There were dragons when I was a boy.

There were great, grim, sky dragons that nested on the cliff tops like gigantic scary birds. Little, brown, scuttly dragons that hunted down the mice and rats in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge Sea Dragons that were twenty times as big as the Big Blue Whale and who killed for the fun of it.

You will have to take my word for it, for the dragons are disappearing so fast they may soon become extinct.

Nobody knows what is happening. They are crawling back into the sea from whence they came, leaving not a bone, not a fang, in the earth for the men of the future to remember them by.

So, in order that these amazing creatures should not be forgotten, I will tell this true story from my childhood.

I was not the sort of boy who could train a dragon with a mere lifting of an eyebrow. I was not a natural at the Heroism business. I had to work at it. This is the story of becoming a Hero the Hard Way.

Chapter 1 FIRST CATCH YOUR DRAGON

Long ago, on the wild and windy isle of Berk, a smallish Viking with a longish name stood up to his ankles in snow.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, had been feeling slightly sick ever since he woke up that morning.

Ten boys, including Hiccup, were hoping to become full members of the Tribe by passing the Dragon Initiation Program. They were standing on a bleak little beach at the bleakest spot on the whole bleak island. A heavy snow was falling.

«PAY ATTENTION!» screamed Gobber the Belch, the soldier in charge of teaching Initiation. «This will be your first military operation, and Hiccup will be commanding the team.»

«Oh, not Hic-cup,» groaned Dogsbreath the Duhbrain and most of the other boys. «You can’t put’: Hiccup in charge, sir, he’s USELESS.»

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the

Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, wiped his nose miserably on his sleeve. He sank a little deeper into the snow.

«ANYBODY would be better than Hiccup,» sneered Snotface Snotlout. «Even Fishlegs would be better than Hiccup.»

Fishlegs had a squint that made him as blind as a jellyfish, and an allergy to reptiles.

«SILENCE!» roared Gobber the Belch. «The next boy to speak has limpets for lunch for the next

There was absolute silence immediately. Limpets are a bit like worms and a bit like snot and a lot less tasty than either.

«Hiccup will be in charge and that is an order!» screamed Gobber, who didn’t do noises quieter than screaming. He was a seven-foot giant with a mad glint in his one working eye and a beard like exploding fireworks. Despite the freezing cold he was wearing hairy shorts and a teeny weeny deerskin vest that showed off his lobster-red skin and bulging muscles. He was holding a flaming torch in one gigantic fist.

«FIRST CATCH YOUR DRAGON!»

Ohhhhhh suffering scallops, thought Hiccup.

«Our dragons are what set us apart!» bellowed Gobber. «Lesser humans train hawks to hunt for them, horses to carry them. It is only the

VIKING HEROES who dare to tame the wildest, most dangerous creatures on Earth.»

Gobber spat solemnly into the snow. «There are three parts to the Dragon Initiation Test. The first and most dangerous part is a test of your courage and skill at burglary. If you wish to enter the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, you must first catch your dragon. And that is WHY,» continued Gobber, at full volume, «I have

brought you to this scenic spot. Take a look at Wild Dragon Cliff itself.»

The ten boys tipped their heads backward. The cliff loomed dizzyingly high above them, black and sinister. In summer you could barely even see the cliff as dragons of all shapes and sizes swarmed over it, snapping and biting and sending up a cacophony of noise that could be heard all over Berk.

But in winter the dragons were hibernating and the cliff fell silent, except for the ominous, low rumble of their snores. Hiccup could feel the vibrations through his sandals.

«Now,» said Gobber, «do you notice those four caves about halfway up the cliff, grouped roughly in the shape of a skull?» The boys nodded.

«Inside the cave that would

be the right eye of the skull is the Dragon Nursery, where there are, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, three

thousand young dragons having their last few weeks of winter sleep.»

«OOOOOOOH,»muttered the boys excitedly.

Hiccup swallowed hard. He happened to know considerably more about dragons than anybody else there. Ever since he was a small boy, he’d been fascinated by the creatures. He’d spent hour after long hour dragon watching in secret. (Dragon-spotters were thought to be geeks and nerds, hence the need for secrecy.) And what Hiccup had learned about dragons told him that walking into a cave with three thousand dragons in it was an act of madness.

No one else seemed too concerned, however.

«In a few minutes I want you to take one of these baskets and start climbing the cliff,» commanded Gobber the Belch. «Once you are at the cave entrance, you are on your own. I am too large to squeeze my way into the tunnels that lead to the Dragon Nursery. You will enter the cave QUIETLY— and that means you too, Wartihog, unless you want to become the first spring meal for three thousand hungry dragons, HA

HA HA HA!»

How to Train Your Dragon (book series)

1. How to Train Your Dragon
2. How to Be a Pirate
3. How to Speak Dragonese
4. How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse
5. How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale
6. A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons
7. How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm
8. How to Break a Dragon’s Heart
9. How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword
10. How to Seize a Dragon’s Jewel
11. How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero

Fantasy, young-adult fiction, coming of age

Hodder Children’s Books (UK)
Little, Brown and Company (US)

Print (hardback & paperback)
Audiobook

This article is about the book series. For Cressida Cowell’s novel, see How to Train Your Dragon (novel). For the film based on the book, see How to Train Your Dragon (film).

Contents

Books

Cowell has published eleven full novels to date based around the adventures of Hiccup, the first published in 2003 and the latest published in 2013. The books all have titles based around an instruction guide:

In addition to these eleven main novels, Cowell has also published other supplementary stories as part of the series: The Day Of The Dreader is a short story published in 2012 and the novel How To Train Your Viking was published as part of World Book Day 2006 and is claimed to be written by the dragon Toothless and translated by Cowell. A picture book, Hiccup the Seasick Viking published in 2000, is not considered a part of the series despite featuring the same character of Hiccup. Cowell cites the Inner Hebrides of Scotland and stories Scandinavian Scotland as an inspiration for the book.

Characters

Vikings

Dragons

Plot synopsis

How To Train Your Dragon (2003)

The book follows Hiccup as he captures a dragon as a rite of passage and attempts to train him so that he will not be exiled from Berk, as is tradition. Led by Gobber the Belch, Hiccup manages to catch a small dragon, whom he names Toothless, and attempts to train it through his own methods, when the How To Train Your Dragon book was found to have only one page and therefore unhelpful. During the final part of the rite of passage Toothless offends another dragon and a fight ensues between all the dragons. As this is seen as failure to train the dragons correctly, the boys are exiled, allowed to stay one night while a storm rages. During the storm, two Sea Dragons are washed up on the shore of the island and one seems a threat to the Vikings. Hiccup is chosen to negotiate with the dragon who calls himself the Merciless which proves futile. While the village elders argue over how to attack the Green Death, Hiccup, the boys and their dragons begin a fight with the dragon, resulting in Hiccup nearly being swallowed and having to be rescued by Toothless, killing the Green Death in the process. Hiccup and Toothless become heroes because of their bravery.

Hiccup doesn’t know it yet, but he has found the first of the King’s Lost Things.

How to Be a Pirate (2004)

The sequel to How to Train Your Dragon, it starts during a Sword-fighting-at-Sea lesson during a storm and Hiccup finds himself poor at using the sword. The fight is cut off as the boat tips over and is holed by an object, a coffin, using which Hiccup rides back to the Isle of Berk. On the beach, it is discovered that it is the coffin of Grimbeard the Ghastly, the greatest pirate of all times and Hiccup’s-great-great-grandfather. Soon the coffin is opened and they find out that it contains a living man, named Alvin the Treacherous, who hides his true identity under the name Alvin the Poor-but-Honest-Farmer to the Hooligans.

Alvin tells the Vikings that he was locked in the coffin and sent out to sea by «some very rude people». He claims that he discovered the coffin buried in the Peacable country, and upon opening it, a booby-trap was set off, which cut off his right hand. He also tells the Vikings that in the coffin, he found a riddle that tells where to find the treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly and a map that shows the island where the treasure is buried.

They soon surface with the aid of Toothless, and the book ends with Hiccup, Toothless and Fishlegs all getting back to the village and finding that the Hooligans had survived and won the battle with the Outcasts but had set them free.

In the epilogue, Hiccup tells us in a secret compartment in the handle of the sword that he used to fight Alvin, he found the last will and testament of Grimbeard the Ghastly. It turns out that the sword was Grimbeard’s favorite sword, because the Stormblade always leaned a little to the left. It is revealed in How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword that the sword’s name is the Dragonsword, but Old Wrinkly names it the Endeavor.

Hiccup has found two of The Kings Lost Things.

How to Speak Dragonese (2005)

The two Tribes realize that their Heirs are back and call off the fight and celebrate the return of the Heirs.

However, it is said at the end that during the balloon landing, one of the heroes was stung by the venomous dragon inside the book, hinting at the book «How To Cheat a Dragon’s Curse.»

How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse (2006)

Hiccup throws the food on the table at the guards, while Camicazi knocks Norbert out with the frozen potato. Hiccup, Camicazi, and Toothless get out of the Hall through the chimney. The two children ride via food tray down the roof and into Hysteria. The three, along with One Eye, escape in a boat, but get attacked by the Doomfang, which lives under a frozen river called the » Wrath of Thor «. The Doomfang breaks out of the ice and uses its tongue to grab the potato and eats it. Hiccup realizes that his mission has failed and wonders if the Doomfang had Vorpentitis, it showed the symptoms. Once he gets back, he realises that Fishlegs had only caught a cold, and Old Wrinkly had made a mistake. Stoick (Hiccup had lied to Stoick saying that he was spending the night at Snotlout’s house, but instead he went to get the potato) yells at Old Wrinky for making Hiccup go on the quest for nothing and almost get killed by Norbert. Hiccup suddenly falls on the same bed Fishlegs was lying on, and his entire body goes stiff. Old Wrinkly examines Hiccup and says that it is actually Hiccup who has Vorpentitis. Hiccup desperately tries to speak, murmuring «Oot me!», and tries to point at the arrow on the table next to him which had been stuck in the potato for a long time. Fishlegs realizes that Hiccup wants him to shoot him with the arrow. Fishlegs shoots Hiccup on the foot, and Hiccup recovers. In the epilogue, Hiccup buries the arrow that saved his life and a seed on the end of it grows another potato which is used to cover the island with potatoes so no one dies of Vorpentitis ever again.

How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale (2007)

A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008)

The sixth book in the series is the only one not to have «How to» in its title. But it is also named «How Not to Celebrate Your Birthday». Its cover name is named only » A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons » after Hiccup’s informative book inside this book.

Hiccup is lost in the Library Labyrinth and the Driller Dragons and Madguts the Murderous are on the prowl, all because of a book! Hiccup’s birthday is not going to be the quiet affair he might have hoped for. This book contains an open-up map of the Barbaric Archipelago, a Dragonese Dictionary in the back, Dragon Profiles and «Conversations with Toothless».

Toothless guiltily reveals that he also burned the copy of «How To Train Your Dragon». Camicazi suggests that they can go to the Meathead Library, and supposedly there might be another copy of the book, and get back home «in time for tea». Hiccup, Camicazi and Fishlegs go to the Island of Forget Me on a Stealth Dragon Big-Boobied Bertha had stolen from Madguts the Murderous, the Chief of the Murderous Tribe, for the bet with Stoick, to visit the Meathead Public Library. With the help of Stormfly, Camicazi’s dragon, they find the copy of «How to Train Your Dragon», though it is a second edition. The Hairy Scary Librarian catches them stealing the book and fights with Camicazi and Hiccup. Fishlegs throws a book at the Hairy Scary Librarian. However, Stormfly is knocked out in the process, and awakens with no memory of who she is, and how did she get in. The Librarian, who falls onto the floor, which is full of Red Hot Itchyworms (the worms went into his pants, tickling him) runs toward the exit, laughing and screaming. The noise attracts Driller Dragons who are dwelling in the Library.

Hiccup takes back the second edition of «How to Train Your Dragon» to the Isle of Berk. Meanwhile, Madguts tracks down the Stealth Dragon and it leads him to the Isle of Forget Me. They find that it has gone to the Isle of Berk and go there. On the Isle of Berk, both Stoick and Bertha find the stolen things they have got for the bet are missing. The Hairy Scary Librarian arrives and shoots Stoick with a Northbow but Hiccup’s handwritten book saves Stoick’s life and Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Camicazi come from the sky and squash the Librarian flat with the Stealth Dragon. Madguts and Gumboil arrive for the Stealth Dragon and are about to kill Bertha. Hiccup saves her by lying to Madguts, telling him that the Scary Hairy Librarian had stolen the Stealth Dragon instead, so she squashed the Librarian. Madguts believes him, and takes the Librarian away. Hiccup persuades Stoick that books are useful and books are unbanned by order of the Thing. At the end of the book, there is Hiccup’s finished A Hero’s Guide To Deadly Dragons, as well as conversation starters with Toothless.

How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm (2008)

Camicazi and Fishlegs are rescued by the Wanderers. The two take Hiccup on board too, and after Bearcub’s grandmother’s medicine, Hiccup awakens. After a long time, the ticking things start to tick louder, because Old Wrinkly had set an alarm on it. With only six hours left, and thinking that Old Wrinkly really did have a reason to set the alarm, the three fly to Berk on Norbert’s flying machine, which the Wanderers had collected. The machine works well, but as they near Berk, the machine breaks and crashes into the ocean. Hiccup and his friends come just in time for the alarm to set off. Because Hiccup is the last person back, he demands Madguts to sing a love song at the next Thing while dressed up as an «ickle pretty shepherdess».

How to Break a Dragon’s Storm (2009)

In the middle of the night, the leader of the Uglithugs, UG, and his men, discover the Hooligans, waking them up. UG tells them that he doesn’t want to kill them, but wants to talk to them about a strange event: a Hooligan has been sending love letters to UG’s daughter, Tantrum O’Ugerly, and explains that if the person is of royal blood, the person can ask for Tantrum’s hand in marriage after the person finishes an Impossible Task, and if not, the person will be killed. Hiccup realizes that Fishlegs is the one who sent the letters, and spares Fishlegs life by telling UG that he himself wrote the letters. UG then tells him the Impossible Task: to give them a barrel of mead made from the honey made by the bees on the Island of Berserk, an island inhabited by crazy lunatics who enjoy feeding people alive to a dragon known as «the Beast» in wicker baskets. UG then tells Hiccup that he should be back at UG’s castle on Midsummer’s day at five o’clock in the morning with five pots of Berserk honey.

On Berserk, Fishlegs successfully collect five pots of honey, but gets captured by Berserks. So is Hiccup. At the Berserk Village, Hiccup and Fishlegs meet the other fiances of Tantrum, one of them being Humungously Hotshot the Hero. All of them are to be fed to «the Beast» later in the evening. Hiccup realizes that the chef of the Berserk Chief is actually Alvin the Treacherous (who is in chains). Alvin explains that when he was in the Fire Dragon in Book 5, he had used his sword to pop open the stomach of the Exterminator Dragon he was riding (because there is lots of laughing gas in the stomach of dragons). The Fire dragon burst out in laughter, and Alvin floated out in a bubble, which was later shot down by a Berserk. Alvin then fell from the sky onto the Berserk Chief’s chef, and spared his own life by agreeing to become the Chief’s new chef. Hiccup tells Alvin that he can help him escape if he shows him where Camicazi is imprisoned (Hiccup had already knew that she was imprisoned in Berserk). Alvin agrees but while they are in the woods, he pushed Hiccup into a tree cell, where he meets a witch who introduces herself as Hogtrude(and Hiccup introducing himself as Fishlegs), who helps get some nasty things from Toothless’s tummy. The witch then finds Hiccup suspicious and decides to tell him a story and at the end of the story, they will both guess each other’s names and whoever guesses right will get to kill the other.

Meanwhile, Humongous bring his five pots of honey to UG’s room and goes on his honeymoon with Tantrum (because Humungous had been the one she had loved).

In the epilogue, Hiccup tells us that sometimes he dreams he is the father of the second Hiccup, and sees him riding on a dragon, promising he will return.

How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword (2011)

How to Seize a Dragon’s Jewel (2012)

This is the tenth book in the series. The Dragon Rebellion has begun. Snotlout is the new Chief of the Hooligan Tribe. Stoick has been banished and given the Slavemark. And Alvin the Treacherous has EIGHT of the King’s Lost Things, and has been proclaimed the new King of the Wilderwest. But what can Hiccup do, now all alone and in exile, hunted by both humans and dragons? Can he find the Dragon Jewel, mankind’s last and only hope? And if he does, what will he do with it?

The book starts with Hiccup in exile. He is nearly killed by his mother, Valhallarama while he deactivates dragon traps, and loses the map to her. He travels to a slave jail under Alvin the Treacherous’s control to spy on Alvin. There, he finds and befriends many slaves, including his father that comb the beaches during low tide, looking for the Dragon Jewel. Alvin discovers Hiccup and makes him look for the Dragon Jewel by himself, with a deadly armed guard. A Deadly Shadow swoops down and snatches Hiccup before he has a chance to look for the Jewel. The dragon brings him to a hill to kill him, but notices that he has the lobster claw necklace. They (the dragon has three heads, Arrogance, Patience, and Innocence) tell him that they had promised to care for a Berserker woman’s baby who was supposed to be killed by drifting through the ocean. They lost sight of the baby however, and it drifted to Berk and grew up to be Fishlegs. Hiccup admits he is not this child, and tells them of Fishleg’s fate (which was to be sucked into a hole in the ground). He goes to this hole and gets pulled in to it by its inhabitant, a large dragon with an eye on each finger. His dragon instincts tell him that this dragon CANNOT BE REASONED WITH, so Hiccup plays dead long enough for the dragon to eat him up to the waist, which is when Hiccup stabs the dragon in a major vulnerable spot. He ventures off into the creature’s maze of glass walls because of a mysterious voice and finds Fishlegs. He also finds the Dragon Jewel. Then they swim to shore through and exit, and the Deadly Shadow picks them up, all flying triumphantly into the distance. Cressida Cowell tells readers to stop reading there if they want a happy story. However Valhallarama finds Hiccup and takes him to the slave jail. There she convinces the slaves and others to join Hiccup against Alvin. The Dragons finally break into the jail and the humans flee. However when Hiccup frees Toothless and the Wodensfang he loses the Dragon Jewel to Alvin. The story ends with Hiccup happily being reunited with his human companions.

How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero (2013)

The eleventh book in the series. While waiting for Vallahallrama (she was going to retrieve the rest of the things from the Alvinsmen- Alvin’s team- so Hiccup would become king), the ten companions of the Dragonmark (Hiccup, Fishlegs, Camicazi, Toothless, Woodensfang, Stormfly, Windwalker, Innocence, Arrogance, and Patience) hear a human calling for help then abruptly stopping. Soon they find Wolf-fangs in the river, showing them why he was screaming. Then they see why he stopped. Thousands of Dragon Rebellion dragons were sleeping on the riverbank. Then they see who the human is. Snotlout.

Films

Differences from the book

The plot of the film is almost completely different from the first book in the series. The greatest change is how the Vikings in the book have the custom of capturing and training dragons even before the story begins – but in the film, they are fighting a fierce war against the dragons and only switch to training them after Hiccup shows that this can be done. Furthermore, Toothless is completely re-imagined as an injured Night Fury dragon, a rare larger and highly intelligent breed that is capable of carrying human riders on its back as a flying mount. However, Cowell stated in her blog that she felt approvingly that the film remained «true to the spirit and message of the book». Cowell also explained that she felt that the changing of media (novel to film) triggered a necessary change in plot and characters. The Green Death is renamed the Red Death in the film. Also,at the end of the movie, Hiccup loses his foot.

How to Train Your Dragon: How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury

Peter’s Book Of the Year Award, 2016

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781444927535

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Read the HILARIOUS books that inspired the HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON films!

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is a smallish Viking with a longish name. Hiccup’s father is chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe which means Hiccup is the Hope and the Heir to the Hairy Hooligan throne – but most of the time Hiccup feels like a very ordinary boy, finding it hard to be a Hero.

It is the Doomsday of Yule. At the end of this day, either the humans or the dragons will face extinction. Alvin the Treacherous is about to be crowned the King of the Wilderwest on the island of Tomorrow. His reign of terror will begin with the destruction of dragons everywhere.

The fate of the dragon world lies in the hands of one young boy: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. If Hiccup can’t beat Alvin the Treacherous then the entire human AND dragon race will become extinct. The time has come to prove himself, once and for all. Will Hiccup – with the help of his friends Fishlegs, Camicazi and Toothless the dragon – finally be crowned KING? And will the dragons survive?

How to Train Your Dragon is now a major DreamWorks franchise starring Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett and Jonah Hill and the TV series, Riders of Berk, can be seen on CBeebies and Cartoon Network.

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How to Train Your Dragon

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Аннотация

How to Train Your Dragon (The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III #1)

2. Inside the Dragon Nursery 14

4. How to Train Your Dragon 46

5. A Chat with Old Wrinkly, 6l

7. Toothless Wakes Up 69

8. Training Your Dragon the Hard Way, 81

9. Fear, Vanity, Revenge, and Silly Jokes 89

10. Thor’sday Thursday 103

11. Thor is Angry 127

12. The Green Death. 145

13. When yelling doesn’t. 156

14. The fiendishly clever plan. 166

15. The Battle at Death’s Head Headland 177

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Cressida cowell how to train your dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III #1)

2. Inside the Dragon Nursery 14

4. How to Train Your Dragon 46

5. A Chat with Old Wrinkly, 6l

7. Toothless Wakes Up 69

8. Training Your Dragon the Hard Way, 81

9. Fear, Vanity, Revenge, and Silly Jokes 89

10. Thor’sday Thursday 103

11. Thor is Angry 127

12. The Green Death. 145

13. When yelling doesn’t. 156

14. The fiendishly clever plan. 166

15. The Battle at Death’s Head Headland 177

17. In the Mouth of the Dragon. 186

19. Hiccup the Useful, 200

20. Epilogue by the Author 211

[Map: Isle of Berk]

[Map: Meathead islands ]

A Note from the Author

There were dragons when I was a boy.

There were great, grim, sky dragons that nested on the cliff tops like gigantic scary birds. Little, brown, scuttly dragons that hunted down the mice and rats in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge Sea Dragons that were twenty times as big as the Big Blue Whale and who killed for the fun of it.

You will have to take my word for it, for the dragons are disappearing so fast they may soon become extinct.

Nobody knows what is happening. They are crawling back into the sea from whence they came, leaving not a bone, not a fang, in the earth for the men of the future to remember them by.

So, in order that these amazing creatures should not be forgotten, I will tell this true story from my childhood.

I was not the sort of boy who could train a dragon with a mere lifting of an eyebrow. I was not a natural at the Heroism business. I had to work at it. This is the story of becoming a Hero the Hard Way.

Chapter 1 FIRST CATCH YOUR DRAGON

Long ago, on the wild and windy isle of Berk, a smallish Viking with a longish name stood up to his ankles in snow.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, had been feeling slightly sick ever since he woke up that morning.

Ten boys, including Hiccup, were hoping to become full members of the Tribe by passing the Dragon Initiation Program. They were standing on a bleak little beach at the bleakest spot on the whole bleak island. A heavy snow was falling.

«PAY ATTENTION!» screamed Gobber the Belch, the soldier in charge of teaching Initiation. «This will be your first military operation, and Hiccup will be commanding the team.»

«Oh, not Hic-cup,» groaned Dogsbreath the Duhbrain and most of the other boys. «You can’t put’: Hiccup in charge, sir, he’s USELESS.»

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the

Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, wiped his nose miserably on his sleeve. He sank a little deeper into the snow.

«ANYBODY would be better than Hiccup,» sneered Snotface Snotlout. «Even Fishlegs would be better than Hiccup.»

Fishlegs had a squint that made him as blind as a jellyfish, and an allergy to reptiles.

«SILENCE!» roared Gobber the Belch. «The next boy to speak has limpets for lunch for the next

There was absolute silence immediately. Limpets are a bit like worms and a bit like snot and a lot less tasty than either.

«Hiccup will be in charge and that is an order!» screamed Gobber, who didn’t do noises quieter than screaming. He was a seven-foot giant with a mad glint in his one working eye and a beard like exploding fireworks. Despite the freezing cold he was wearing hairy shorts and a teeny weeny deerskin vest that showed off his lobster-red skin and bulging muscles. He was holding a flaming torch in one gigantic fist.

«FIRST CATCH YOUR DRAGON!»

Ohhhhhh suffering scallops, thought Hiccup.

«Our dragons are what set us apart!» bellowed Gobber. «Lesser humans train hawks to hunt for them, horses to carry them. It is only the

VIKING HEROES who dare to tame the wildest, most dangerous creatures on Earth.»

Gobber spat solemnly into the snow. «There are three parts to the Dragon Initiation Test. The first and most dangerous part is a test of your courage and skill at burglary. If you wish to enter the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, you must first catch your dragon. And that is WHY,» continued Gobber, at full volume, «I have

brought you to this scenic spot. Take a look at Wild Dragon Cliff itself.»

The ten boys tipped their heads backward. The cliff loomed dizzyingly high above them, black and sinister. In summer you could barely even see the cliff as dragons of all shapes and sizes swarmed over it, snapping and biting and sending up a cacophony of noise that could be heard all over Berk.

But in winter the dragons were hibernating and the cliff fell silent, except for the ominous, low rumble of their snores. Hiccup could feel the vibrations through his sandals.

«Now,» said Gobber, «do you notice those four caves about halfway up the cliff, grouped roughly in the shape of a skull?» The boys nodded.

«Inside the cave that would

be the right eye of the skull is the Dragon Nursery, where there are, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, three

thousand young dragons having their last few weeks of winter sleep.»

«OOOOOOOH,» muttered the boys excitedly.

Hiccup swallowed hard. He happened to know considerably more about dragons than anybody else there. Ever since he was a small boy, he’d been fascinated by the creatures. He’d spent hour after long hour dragon watching in secret. (Dragon-spotters were thought to be geeks and nerds, hence the need for secrecy.) And what Hiccup had learned about dragons told him that walking into a cave with three thousand dragons in it was an act of madness.

No one else seemed too concerned, however.

«In a few minutes I want you to take one of these baskets and start climbing the cliff,» commanded Gobber the Belch. «Once you are at the cave entrance, you are on your own. I am too large to squeeze my way into the tunnels that lead to the Dragon Nursery. You will enter the cave QUIETLY— and that means you too, Wartihog, unless you want to become the first spring meal for three thousand hungry dragons, HA

Nobody had any questions.

Probably? thought Hiccup. Oh, well, that’s reassuring.

Linger. thought Hiccup. In a cave full of three thousand sleeping DRAGONS?

«I need not tell you,» Gobber continued cheerfully, «that if you return to this spot without a dragon, it is hardly worth coming back at all. Anybody who FAILS this task will be put into immediate exile. The Hairy Hooligan Tribe has no use for FAILURES. Only the strong can belong.»

Unhappily, Hiccup looked round at the distant horizon. Nothing but snow and sea as far as the eye could see. Exile didn’t look too promising, either.

«RIGHT,» said Gobber briskly. «Each boy take a basket to put their dragon in and we’ll get going.»

The boys rushed to get their baskets, chattering happily and excitedly.

«I’m going to get one of those Monstrous Nightmare ones with the extra-extendable claws. They’re really scary,» boasted Snotlout.

«Oh shut up, Snotlout, you can’t,» said Speedi-fist. «Only Hiccup can have a Monstrous Nightmare, you have to be the son of a chief.» Hiccup’s father was Stoick the Vast, the fearsome chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe.

«HIC-CUP?» sneered Snotlout. «If he’s as useless at this as he is at Bashyball, we’ll be lucky if he even gets one of the Basic Browns.»

The Basic Brown was the most common type of dragon, a serviceable beast but without much glamour.

«SHUDDUP AND GET INTO LINE YOU MISERABLE TADPOLES!» yelled Gobber the Belch.

The boys scrambled into their places, baskets on their backs, and stood to attention. Gobber walked along the line, lighting the torch that each boy held in front of him from the great flare in his hand.

[ VIKING DRAGONS AND THEIR EGGS

THE COMMON OR GARDEN and THE BASIC BROWN

COLORS: Green and yellow, all shades of brown

ARMED WITH : Basic teeth and claws 3

DEFENSES : Prickly spines 2

HUNTING ABDLITY: Lethargic hunters 3

SPEED: Swift in retreat 8

FEAR AND FIGHT FACTOR: good when angry 4

. OR BREAKFASTING WITH WODEN IN VALHALLA WITH DRAGONS’ TEETH IN YOUR BOTTOM!» screamed Gobber with horrible enthusiasm. :

«DEATH OR GLORY!» yelled Gobber.

«DEATH OR GLORY!» yelled eight boys back at him fanatically.

Death, thought Hiccup and Fishlegs, sadly.

Gobber paused dramatically, with the horn to his lips.

I think this could possibly be the worst moment of my life SO FAR, thought Hiccup to himself as he waited for the blast of the horn. And if they shout much louder, we’re going to wake up those dragons before we even START.

Gobber blew the horn.

[Image: Gobber and Hiccup]

Chapter 2 INSIDE THE DRAGON NURSERY

You have probably guessed by now that Hiccup was not your natural Viking Hero.

For a start, he didn’t LOOK like a Hero. Somebody like Snotlout, for instance, was tall,muscley, covered in skeleton, tattoos, and already had the beginnings of a small moustache. This consisted of a few straggly yellow hairs clinging to his upper lip and was deeply unpleasant to look at, but still impressively manly for a boy not yet thirteen.

Hiccup was on the small side and had the kind of face that was almost entirely un-

memorable. He DID have

Heroic Hair, which was a very bright

red and stood up vertically however much you tried to wet it down with seawater. But nobody ever saw that because it was hidden under his helmet most of the time.

You would NEVER have picked Hiccup out of those ten boys to be the Hero of this story.

Snotlout was good at everything and a natural leader. Dogsbreath was as tall as his father and could do amusing things like farting to the tune of the Berk national anthem.

Hiccup was just absolutely average, the kind of unremarkable, skinny, freckled boy who was easy to overlook in a crowd.

So, when Gobber blew the horn and moved out of sight to find a comfortable rock to sit on and eat his mussel-and-tomato sandwich, Snotlout pushed Hiccup out of the way and took charge.

«Okay, listen up, boys,» he whispered in a menacing fashion. «I’M in charge, not the Useless. And

anybody who objects gets a knuckle sandwich from Dogsbreath the Duhbrain.»

«Ugh,» grunted Dogsbreath, pounding his fists together in happy excitement. Dogsbreath was Snotlout’s chief sidekick and a great, big gorilla of a boy.

Dogsbreath was delighted to oblige. He gave Hiccup a shove that sent him sprawling headfirst into the snow, then ground his face in it.

«Pay attention!» hissed Snotlout. The boys dragged their eyes away from Dogsbreath and Hiccup and paid attention. «Rope yourselves together. The best climber should go first. «

«Well, that’s YOU of course, Snotlout,» said Fishlegs. «You’re the best at everything, aren’t you?»

Snotlout looked at Fishlegs suspiciously. It was difficult to tell whether Fishlegs was laughing at him or not, because of his squint.

«That’s right, Fishlegs,» said Snotlout. «I AM.» And, just in case he had been laughing at him: «Bash him, Dogsbreath!»

While Dogsbreath pushed Fishlegs down to join Hiccup in the snow, everybody started roping themselves together.

Hiccup and Fishlegs were the last to be tied on, just behind a flushed and triumphant Dogsbreath.

«Oh, brilliant,» muttered Fishlegs. «I’m about to enter a cave full of man-eating reptiles tied up to eight complete maniacs.»

Hiccup put the lighted torch between his teeth to leave his hands free, and started climbing after the others.

«Untie the ropes!» ordered Snotlout, his eyes popping with excitement at the thought of the dangers to come. «Hiccup goes into the cave first because

Although he wasn’t your usual mindless thug of a Hooligan, Hiccup wasn’t a wimp, either. Being frightened is not the same as being a coward. Maybe he was as brave as anyone else there, because he went to catch a dragon despite knowing what dragons are like. And, when he had climbed perilously to the mouth of the cave and had found that inside there was a long, twisty tunnel, he still went down it, despite not being too keen on long, twisty tunnels with dragons at the end of them.

The tunnel was dripping and clammy. At times it was high enough for the boys to walk upright. Then it would close down into narrow, claustrophobic holes that the boys could only just squeeze through, squirming on their stomachs, with the flares held in their mouths.

unbearable and the tunnel opened out into an enormous cavern.

The cavern was full of more dragons than Hiccup could ever have imagined existed.

They were every possible color and size, and they included all the species that Hiccup had heard of, and quite a few more that he hadn’t.

Hiccup started sweating as he looked around him at pile after pile of the animals, draped over every available surface; even hanging upside down from the roof like giant bats. They were all fast asleep, and most of them were snoring in unison. This was a sound so loud and so deep that it seemed to penetrate right into Hiccup’s body and vibrate around his soft insides, churning his stomach and bowels, and forcing his heart to beat at the same slow dragon pulse.