This was originally written for an English assignment where we had to explain the motivation of one of the three monsters in Beowulf. I, obviously, chose the dragon. Enjoy!
April the twelfth, year 625 (words and units translated from Draconic)
I awoke this morn from my winter's sleep and immediately sensed something amiss. Upon glancing around, I noticed the dust of a small side passage had been disturbed less than a sun-cycle earlier. From the passage now comes fresh air, though never before had it led to the surface. I shall block it up as soon as I find a boulder of an appropriate size. Hopefully before then the air will remove the infernal stench that now permeates my lair.
Ugh! Even though it has been a full sun since that trespasser dared enter my home, that foul smell is just as strong. Humans really are horrible smelling. I don't know what I am going to do about this stink. Even if I let my home air for a full winter, which I am completely unwilling to do, I would undoubtedly have to resort to a good fire-breathing to scorch the odor away. And doing that, enjoyable as it would be, would endanger my precious treasure, which that fires-be-damned human dared steal from! That beast took a gem-studded goblet that was part of one my favorite matched sets in my entire collection. Now I have to track him down to retrieve it.
I wouldn't be surprised if Koramelthator were behind this theft. It would certainly fit his sneaky style. I am ashamed to even be related to that over-grown lizard. Why we had to be part of the same nest is beyond me. In any case, I have to find that human before any other dragon catches wind of this. If they knew that a human had stolen from me while I was sleeping, I would never be able to show a scale at a Dragonmeet again! Not in all the hundreds of winters that I have ahead of me would I be able to live that shame down.
Ach, that scorch mark human is causing me so much trouble! It will probably take me days just to track it down. And when I finally do retrieve that goblet it will take forever to get rid of the human stench that it will be covered in... I suppose I might as well have some fun while recovering it. If I scorch the land around my lair clean, not only will I repay the humans for the trouble that one has caused me, maybe I shall have some peace and quiet for a few dozen winters. Not four-score winters past a group of nearly a dozen humans entered the labyrinth of tunnels I have created to guard the way into my home. They had to audacity to start chipping away at the sides of the tunnels I crafted! I stopped that no more than a quarter moon after they started. That meal kept me for nearly a half-score of winters. The humans apparently have forgotten the lesson the disappearance of that group, and the trio who came searching for them. Perhaps by burning the land I shall teach them to leave me alone. It is bad enough that others of my kind have tried to acquire my treasure. To have humans try as well is simply unacceptable. I have no use for their kind, but so long as they leave me alone and keep their stench away, I am content to leave them be. But when they intrude upon my solitude…well, that is something no intelligent being should have to put up with.