On the first day of the semester, a dragon descended upon Grand Valley State University. Students walking to class looked up, seeing something flying towards them.
“It’s a bird!”
“It’s a plane!”
“No, it’s a…dragon?!”
The students couldn’t believe their eyes. They all yelled out in astonishment as the brilliantly colored lake blue dragon landed in the courtyard, sending gusts of wind upward. Then the dragon folded in its massive wings and stood tall, looking down at the gawking students.
“Where is Serpent Hall?” the dragon asks the students, with a soothing, mystical voice.
The students, dumbfounded, did not answer the dragon’s question.
“Well?” the dragon growled.
“Oh-uh, you mean that new building recently built? It’s straight ahead and then to the left,” answered a particularly brave senior.
“Thank you, young sir,” said the dragon and flew in that direction.
Then the dragon entered the building, and the doors were built large enough for the dragon to enter. It made its way to the classroom where the dragon was supposed to teach. The students in said classroom were waiting for their professor to arrive, completely unaware of what kind of professor they were about to encounter.
“Welcome to Introduction to Dragon Folklore. I am Professor Lakenhart. I will be teaching this class,” said the lake blue dragon.
The students gaped at Professor Lakenhart.
“A dragon! It’s a real dragon!” one student exclaimed, pointing at the professor.
“Of course I’m a dragon. Now to go over the syllabus…”
The students marveled as Professor Lakenhart paced the front of the room, lecturing the class on class policies. Then one of them raised their hand.
“Yes, what is it?” said Professor Lakenhart.
“Are we not going to acknowledge you are a dragon? Dragons aren’t real…” the student trailed off, not knowing what to say next.
“Why, of course, we’re real. All the other universities in Michigan have hired us dragons to teach this new curriculum. Michigan State’s dragon professor is my cousin, by the way, who you’ll recognise as dark green.
The students gaped with astonishment once again.
“Did none of you know of this?” asks Professor Lakenhart.
The students shake their heads.
“Huh, strange. Anyway…”
As the lake blue dragon continued their lecture, the students quietly whispered to each other.
“So, this is why the doors and classrooms here are so big.”
“I just took this class to fulfill my history gen ed. I had no idea a real dragon would be teaching. How exciting!”
“So, if we cheat, will the professor eat us?”
The students stopped whispering as sunlight shone through the window, turning the dragon’s already brilliant blue scales into a mesmerizing, glittering wonder.
“Wow,” every student breathed at once.
The class seemed to end in the blink of an eye, for the dragon’s wondrous energy made the time go by so quickly.
“Oh dear, I’ve been rambling this whole time. I never gave you all a chance to introduce yourselves. Well, we’ll have to save that for next time. It’s been a pleasure, my young sirs. You may go now,” said Professor Lakenhart.
After that, news travelled quickly about the dragon professor. Everyone and their mom were curious, and so Professor Lakenhart’s class became full very fast. The dragon was ecstatic at the thought of so many students being interested in Dragon Folklore. Thereafter, everyone learned the greatness that is the dragon and how uniquely fascinating they are.
