Dream Days (1898) is a collection of children’s stories by Kenneth Grahame. It was published as a sequel to The Golden Age (1895), a collection of semi-autobiographical stories reflecting on the nature of childhood and the strange, distant lives of adults. Although less popular than The Wind in the Willows (1908), which would go on to become not only a defining work of Edwardian English literature, but one of the most popular works of children’s fiction in the world, Dream Days features “The Reluctant Dragon,” one of Grahame’s most enduring short works of fiction.

Carrying on the themes and concerns of The Golden Age, the author reflects on his youth among elders who exemplified Victorian values of stoicism and quiet decency. In these stories of innocence and experience, he recalls the games they played, the places they discovered, and the legends they made of the normal, the boring, and the everyday wonders of an old world seen through young eyes. “The Reluctant Dragon,” the centerpiece of Dream Days, is a story about a young boy who discovers a wise, poetry-loving dragon while exploring the Berkshire Downs near his home in Oxfordshire. Against all appearances, the two sensitive souls become fast friends. When the townspeople discover the dragon, however, they send for the legendary St. George to slay the creature they see as a threat. Faced with the loss of his only friend in the world, the young boy must convince St. George to not only spare the dragon’s life, but to convince the townspeople of his kind and gentle nature. Dream Days is a collection of stories for children which finds room for fantasy and adventure in the smallest of places, and kindness in the largest of hearts.

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