Dragon Little clung to Dragon Father’s chest. 

I have lived for centuries, but in all that time in the Dream, I have not seen a lot of children, and almost never a child that grows up. And so I do not know how fear actually works with children. 

I only know my own childhood fears: fear of pain, of pain, and of more pain. 

But as I looked on that day, I did not understand how Dragon Little’s fear worked.

She woke up, not out of a nightmare, but because she imagined there was a monster. 

When Dragon Father appeared, her fear grew worse and she clung to him. And then, when he had made that monster real, she clung to him. 

But did she not know the monster was her imagination? Did she not know her father would protect her? At the time I did not know the answers to those questions.

“What does it want? What does it want?” the tiny 3-year-old asked, head buried deep in her father’s chest. 

“I don’t know,” her father said calmly. “What do you think it wants?” 

“It wants to eat my pajamas!” 

“Really?” 

She nodded. 

“Maybe it wants us to pet it on the nose?” 

Dragon Little shook her head.

“Pajamas…” the giant Pajama Monster snarled. “Pajamas!” 

Hmmm… As I looked at this, I realized Dragon Father was asking Dragon Little to create the monster and to tell him how it behaves. 

“You’re right!” Dragon Father said. “It does wants to eat your pajamas! What do you think we should do?”

Dragon Little shook her head. 

“Do you know what I think we should do?” 

Dragon Little shook her head again. 

“I think we should give it what it wants.” 

She raised her head to look at him. 

“We could always shoot it with a gun later if we want. But for now… We’re scared of something really big. Let’s give fear what it wants. Let’s not fight fear. Okay?” 

She nodded slowly. 

“Okay. Let’s see what happens. Take off your pajamas.” 

He stood up and put Dragon Little down on the deck. She took off her pajamas and remained in her panties. She offered her pajamas to Dragon Father. 

“Pajamas…” the monster said hungrily. 

“Give it to the monster,” Dragon Father said. “Come on!”

Dragon Little, now almost not afraid at all, turned around, her arm still outstretched and holding pajamas. 

“Pajamas…” the monster said. And with a flick of a huge, long tongue, grabbed the pajamas and put them in its mouth. It chewed happily.

The Pajama Monster chewed and chewed, and as it chewed, a wider and wider smile spread across its face. 

Finally, having eaten all of it, the Pajama Monster lay down on the deck, its huge body with fur the shape of pajama unicorns rested and the monster purred. 

“Awwww…” Dragon Little said. “He was just hungry!” 

“He was just hungry! See? When you give fear what it wants, it stops being scary!” Dragon Father said. 

“Can I pet it?” 

“Sure you can!” 

I saw now the lesson Dragon Father tried to teach Dragon Little. It would be a lesson he would teach many times in the next few years. 

But of course the story of the Pajama Monster did not end there. In the Dream, adventures hardly ever end where Dragon Father and Dragon Little expect it. 

Tomorrow I will tell you of the last, surprising thing that happened at the end of the Pajama Monster Incident. 

—Told by The Red Dragon