Once upon a time there was a red-haired dragon who had many hobbies. A hobby is a favorite pastime or hobby. And let me tell you, Red lived by a lake. And one of his favorite pastimes was fishing. By the way, he could fish all year round, even in winter. He didn't go ice fishing, because it rarely snowed where he lived.
And one day before New Year's Eve, our dragon went fishing. Our Red was sitting with a fishing rod, sitting... In general, he was sitting for a long time. And suddenly he felt that someone pulled the line and began to pull. Red was happy, he thought he had caught a big fish. He wanted to pull it out, but the fish started pulling again. It swims and swims, with the line together. But Red can't let go of the line!
- Ah-ah-ah-ah! Let go of the line!!! - Red ran to save the fishing rod, and... fell down. Right under the water.
But he wasn't scared, he looked around.
- Phew... - Red exhaled - Good thing the fishing rod is intact. I wonder where the fishing line goes? - Red thought and began to reel in the fishing line.
He walked and walked until he reached the end of the line, and again he felt that something did not let him go. He raised his head, and there he was! A waterman! Big, mustachioed and with a long nose!
The redhead had never dealt with watermen, so he said cautiously:
- I...lost my fishing line here. Let her go, please.
- Take it, I'm not sorry," said the Waterman, and looked at Redhead sadly. And Red felt uncomfortable.
- Uh...is there something wrong with you? - he asked - Do you need help?
The waterman hesitated.
- You know," he said at last, "you're the first one who asked me if I needed help. Sometimes I'd lure someone in and it would start:
- Help!
- Help!
One of them started yelling as soon as he saw me:
- Don't eat me!
I'm not going to eat anyone, am I? Do I look that much like an ogre?
- No," Red looked at the Waterman, and then asked.
- Then why are you stealing fishermen?
- I'm not stealing, I'm not stealing! - My children and grandchildren just wanted to learn about the earthly New Year's Eve and to organize such a feast in our castle.
- I could tell them about New Year's Eve," Red suggested, "unless of course they don't mind a dragon doing it.
- Oh, I don't think they'll pay any attention at all! Besides, they've known about seahorses since they were kids, and you look just like one!
And the waterman was right: Red quickly found a common language with his family, and especially with his granddaughter, the little mermaid. The little mermaid listened especially attentively to Redhead's stories about the Christmas tree, and together with her brothers even managed to assemble a similar one from lake plants. And especially everyone laughed when Grandfather Vodyanoy came with presents on a sleigh pulled by a trio of perches.
And then they let Red go home. But that wasn't the end of it. A few days later, after Red and his mom celebrated the Earth New Year, he found a package on the lake. There was a note on it: "To Drakoshe Red from his underwater friends." Inside was... a portrait of Red and his underwater friends, which was drawn by a mermaid. That's how Red became friends with the underwater people.
The end