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Delber the dragon was a special sort, for his species. Like many of his brethren, he enjoyed his time spent aloft. "There's nothing like a day spent in the air! A day without flight is a day wasted."

However, unlike the rest of his species, he had a very strong desire to teach the rest of the world about the importance of flight. He wanted to take the world with him.

There was one problem with Delber's way of looking at things.

Delber was not a very good flier.

His heart was very much willing; to say that Delber was an eager flier was a gross understatement. He awoke each morning from dreams of the next new place he was to explore from the sky. He would gobble down breakfast, kiss his mother's snout, grab the safety goggles she now made him wear (ever since The Incident With The Very Spikey Tree), and leap from their mountainside cave, never bothering to check first to make sure his wings were fully stretched, never looking both ways to make sure any other dragons were coming. And, admittedly, his wings generally did catch a warm updraft, and usually at least slowed Delber's descent toward the ground, and often he hardly even bruised anything on the way down. Anymore. After he'd learned to tuck and roll.

The little dragon just did not want to swallow the idea that it took patience and training to learn to fly well. He wanted to do it now. And he did not quite understand that his method of "flying" was not the way to go about it.

Curious mountain- and surrounding-forest-dwelling creatures who would otherwise have been very enthralled with the idea of a free ride from any other dragon (for the dragon is the most powerful of fliers, but generally quite aloof) made up convenient excuses when Delber would ask if they wanted to take a ride with him. Tree nymphs coughed politely and said they had branches to trim. Goblins who normally would have knocked each other about for a chance to cause mischief upon the back of a dragon discussed the importance of toenail hygiene. Even tough brownies shuffled their feet and mumbled things about having to clean out hornets' nests.

Delber was very frustrated. "I just want to show everyone what it's like! How beautiful it is from up there..." he said to his mother wistfully.

His mother thought quietly for a time, and then said, "Perhaps they would be more willing to ride you if you wore a saddle for them?"

"A saddle?" Delber asked. "What kind of saddle?"

"Oh, it can't be just any saddle, no, not for a special dragon such as my Delber," she said. "You are going to have to put a lot of work into it, and it will be difficult, but I know you can do it. Are you up for it?"

"If you think it will help, of course!" Delber said enthusiastically. "Anything! What do I need to do?"

"First," his mother said, "you will need the finest leather, from a troll town far away." And she sketched a rough map in the sand of their cave. "It will take you weeks to get there. And then you will have to be fitted; I know a lovely shop in a human town that makes lovely accessories for one of my pegasus friends, but that is even farther beyond the troll town, another two weeks at least. And then, of course, you should want it decorated, just so it is a very special saddle. I would talk to the Gentle Ogres in the Valley Atop the Mounts, which is even farther still, and so very high. It is a very long trip all told... but I am confident in your abilities." She completed the map, and he asked questions, and she answered them, and she tied a small pouch of gold and jewels up for him and she kissed his snout.

And so Delber set off on his very long trip. Via air, of course.

Very curiously, Delber discovered early on that he did not get very far by just throwing himself pell-mell off of high places and tumbling to the ground. He flapped his wings furiously, but he only got himself a mile or two before he tired and had to come to ground.

With a little trial and error, he soon realized that spreading his wings wide helped him to capture some of the air currents, and if he tilted them just so, one way or the other, he could somewhat-gently turn himself.

After his first day of travel, he was very wing-sore. He walked for the first few hours of the next day, stretching his wings and grunting a little, and then gingerly took off from a hill. He surprised himself by gliding for quite some time before needing to flap his aching wings for more height.

And so Delber's trip went. Every day for the first two weeks, he would walk a little way, stretching his wings, and every day he felt a new soreness, but soon his aerial maneuvering became something that could very nearly be described as "smooth." Eventually the soreness abated, and while he still flew eagerly, he also flew with a little more control. He fluttered into the troll town to retrieve the leather. He flew with the leather to the human town for the fitting. And finally, he absolutely soared to the high place where the Ogres dwelled, and there had his snug-fitting saddle kitted out with beautiful but subtle markings.

Delber went home.

And all of the creatures in the mountains and forest saw the young dragon wheeling in the sky, graceful as a fine mist, and as they all watched him alight upon the ground, as delicate as a butterfly, they swarmed him and begged him for rides, and Delber the dragon was never happier.

His first night home, after he had tired himself from all of the free rides, Delber made very sure to hug his mother, for she was a very wise dragon indeed.