Lookstein was a ferocious dragon. At least he thought he was. He was ten feet long. He was seven feet high. His snout was two feet long and his tongue was even longer than that.
He would strut around with his head in the air and recite in a loud voice: “I am a ferocious dragon.”
Then he would breathe out flames of fire. He would frighten all the children in the neighborhood of Armon haNatziv.
All the parents would call the police to get Lookstein out of the neighborhood. But he was too big to move and too dangerous to approach. They called the fire trucks to put out his fire – so then Lookstein would just close his eyes and his mouth – and say “Ho, Hum.”
Then he would say: “This water feels good. What a fine place Armon haNatziv is! The police are so nice to me.” And so it went.
The children finally got used to Lookstein. He stopped being ferocious and he stopped breathing fire because it made him very tired and very hot. He was hungry all the time, but he could only find insects and grass to eat. So he had to eat all of the time in order to feed his enormous body.
At night, he would go to the open field and fall asleep, he was so tired.
But when he slept, he opened his mouth and as he breathed out, so flames of fire came out also.
Finally, the children of Armon haNatziv understood that when Lookstein slept, he was not dangerous at all. So on Sunday nights, the children cooked frankfurters from Lookstein’s fire.
And on Monday nights, they cooked marshmallows.
And on Tuesday nights, they cooked chicken wings.
On Wednesday night, they grilled fish
and on Thursday night they cooked French fried potatoes.
Friday night was Shabbat and so they did not cook anything at all.
One Sunday night, Lookstein woke up while the children were cooking frankfurters. Lookstein was very, very hungry. The children of Armon ha Natziv were very frightened. But Lookstein only looked at the frankfurters and asked if he could have some. And there was enough to go around to feed everyone because the parents had been bringing frankfurters all night.
So everybody ate and had a good time. After dinner, Lookstein asked the children to call the fire department so that they could cool him down with their hoses, because he had breathed out so much fire that night. And the fire department came and hosed Lookstein down. Then the firemen sat down to eat frankfurters and they thought it was great fun.
