A long time ago, in a land far away lived a little dragon named Frizzle. He was happy playing in the sun while his Nana watched over him. His parents were out doing some errands, but Frizzle knew they would be home soon. He and his Nana had built sand caves, picked flowers, had a snack in the sun and were playing with his toy knights when he heard his father?s voice call out to him.

"Frizzle! Come inside for a minute please, we have something to show you."

So the little dragon scampered into his cave, wondering what his parents had brought home.

There was a new nest sitting in the corner, and inside the nest was a speckled green egg.

Frizzle stopped and looked at it carefully, then turned to his mother and said, "Why is that here?"

"Frizzle; do you remember when you were only a hatchling?"

The little dragon nodded silently.

"Well, before you were a hatchling, you grew inside an egg; like that one. Your daddy and I heard about some eggs that had no mommy and daddy, so we brought one home with us."

Frizzle thought about this carefully, and then said, "Is there a baby like I was in the egg?"

"Yes, but smaller." Said Nana dragon.

"What happens when it hatches Mama?"

"We will help him grow up, and you can teach him all kinds of things."

"So I'll have a little brother?" Frizzle had always been the only little dragon in the family, and he wasn't sure if he knew how to be a brother.

"Yes, and I'm sure you'll be a good big brother Frizzle." His daddy patted him on the shoulder.

"When will the egg break Daddy?"

"Soon, Frizzle, very soon."

Frizzle looked the whole egg over for cracks, but he couldn't see any yet, so he went back outside to play with his toys again.

He was watching some ants surround his knights when he thought that it might be nice to have a little brother. They could discover new places to play games together, go swimming together, practise breathing fireballs and learn new things side by side. Frizzle could show his little brother how to hunt, how to scare sheep and help him learn to walk; but first the little green egg would have to hatch.

It would be fun to be a big brother, Frizzle thought. He would stand up and defend his little brother against bigger dragons, he could show his little brother how to help Mommy pick flowers and help Daddy fix the cave. If they were very good, they might even get to go fishing with Papa dragon. Yes, it would be fun to be a big brother after all.

"Frizzle! The egg is hatching, come quickly!" His Mommy's voice called out.

Just as Frizzle came running in, the egg split in two and out popped a small blue head and a rolly, poly blue body. Frizzle thought that the new baby was very small, and very blue! There was a little silver horn on the end of his nose, he had red eyes and the smallest wings Frizzle had ever seen! The baby tried to flap his stubby wings, but of course he didn?t fly away anywhere.

"Daddy, is he trying to fly?"

"Not really Frizzle, he's just getting used to moving his wings. He won't fly for some time yet."

"He's so small."

"Don't worry Frizzle, he'll grow; just like you did." Daddy smiled down at him and ruffled the little bit of hair on Frizzle's head.

Mommy dragon asked Frizzle what he thought they should name his new brother.

"Flame!" He answered quickly, and the grownups all laughed and said it was a fine name for a dragon.

Flame couldn't do anything for himself yet, and the grown-ups were kept very busy taking care of him even though his aunt and uncle were there too. Frizzle really wanted to go over and hug little Flame, but he didn't want to hurt him either. When Frizzle asked Daddy to play catch the rock with him, Daddy told him he had no time, that he had to fix the nest. Nana was making a blanket to keep Flame warm, Mommy was trying to feed the baby, Aunt Goldie was making silly faces at the baby and even Uncle Ezra was paying attention to Flame; so Frizzle went into his room.

The next day, Frizzle was sitting beside Flame's nest explaining the drawings in his picture book while Mommy went and got something from the garden. Frizzle couldn't read yet, but he remembered most of the story. But there was another book that he thought Flame might like, so he went off to get it from his room. When he came back, Flame wasn't in his nest; he was over by the fireplace!

"No Flame, stay away!" Frizzle hurried to catch the baby, but Flame didn't understand what no meant and he crawled toward the fire.

Just before Frizzle reached Flame, the fire popped and a spark jumped out and landed on the tip of one of Flame's wings.

As Frizzle brushed the hot ember off of his little brother Flame started to cry. Frizzle picked Flame up carefully like he had seen the grownups do, but it wasn't easy because he was still small himself. As he was taking Flame back to his nest, the baby dragon tucked his head under Frizzle's wing and whimpered.

"It'll be okay Flame; Mommy will take care of your wing. You shouldn't play near the fire; it can burn. But don't worry, I'll teach you all kinds of things to watch out for."

Mommy had heard the sounds and came running! Frizzle explained how Flame had gotten hurt and how he took care of his baby brother.

?I'm sorry I left the room Mommy, I should have watched Flame better." Frizzle was sad because he thought it was his fault.

"No, I shouldn't have asked you to watch the baby Frizzle; you're just a young dragon yet." Mommy hugged Frizzle tightly. "I'm glad you were able to protect him sweetie; you're a good big brother."

Flame made happy noises under Frizzle's wing, and snuggled deeper into his big brother's hug.

Frizzle leaned his head against his mommy and thought that maybe it would be okay to be a big brother after all.