The Dragon with Red Eyes facts for kids

The Dragon with Red Eyes (original title: Draken med de röda ögonen) is a children's book. It was written by the famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. The story is about two children who discover a small dragon.

What Happens in the Story?

A brother and sister visit their farm's pigsty. They want to see the new piglets born during the night. But they find something unexpected there. Along with the piglets, they see a tiny green dragon. This dragon has bright red eyes.

The little dragon keeps biting its pig mother. Because of this, the pig mother stops feeding it. So, the brother and sister decide to take care of the dragon themselves. They raise it like their own pet.

When autumn arrives, the little dragon is grown. It says goodbye to the children. Then, it flies away into the sunset. As it flies, it sings a happy song with a clear, bright voice.

How the Story Was Made

The idea for The Dragon with Red Eyes came from two young boys. In December 1953, Astrid Lindgren received a letter from them. These boys were thirteen years old. They asked her to write a short story about a dragon. They wanted it for their magazine, called Maskrerade draken. Astrid Lindgren wrote the story and sent it to them.

Years later, in 1985, the story became a picture book. It was published by Rabén & Sjögren. The beautiful pictures were drawn by Ilon Wikland. The next year, in 1986, the book was published in English.

The dragon from the book even appeared on stamps! A set of three stamps was released in Sweden. They featured Ilon Wikland's drawings of the dragon. In 2013, a theatre play based on the book was created in Germany. It was directed by Margrit Gysin and lasted about 40 minutes.