...the voice returns.**
Many know this one's story, his life described in a song. They heard it when they were young or
sing it to their own children. But no one knows what happened after the song ended, and so Puff
has come to live here.
**You still can not see what is in the cave. But as you hear what sounds like a soft, sad sigh, a
song begins to play: **
Puff the Magic Dragon,
lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist,
in a land called Honalee!
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
and brought him strings,
and sealing wax,
and other fancy stuff.
Oh, Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee!
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Together they would travel,
on a boat with billowed sail.
Jackie kept a look out perched on Puff's gigantic tail.
Noble Kings and princes would bow whene'er they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name!
Oh, Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee!
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
A dragon lives forever,
but not so little boys.
Painted wings and giant's rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened,
Jackie Paper came no more.
And Puff that Mighty Dragon,
he ceased his fearless roar.
His head was bent in sorrow,
green scales fell like rain.
Puff no longer went to play
along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend,
Puff could not be brave.
So Puff, that Mighty Dragon,
silently slipped into his cave.
Oh, Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
and frolicked in the autumn mist,
in a land called Honalee...
Puff's story was first recorded by Lenny Lipton in a poem. His friend, Peter Yarrow, later added
music to the poem. If Peter, Paul, and Mary had not recorded the song and made it popular years
later, Puff's story may have been entirely forgotten.
**As you leave the cave you consider taking one of the green
scales, just to help you remember. But again you feel a wave of sadness when you touch it, and
you realize that you can not take it with you, for it exists only in the past. Yet somehow you
know that it will always be with you.**