wold you call ' the tale of custard the dragon,' a veiled satire on human nature? give reason.
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Answer:
Nash is well known for his children’s poetry, and “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” is one such poem. It is like a fairy tale, in fact. The story itself is very simple, as fairy tales generally are. But its moral is an important one – that we must never judge anyone without getting to know them well.
In the story, Belinda and her smaller pets are very courageous. This is an admirable quality, of course, but when the time comes to deal with an actual danger such as the pirate, their courage is all but lost. The generally meek and cowardly dragon named Custard is the one who saves the day. Even though his longing for a safe cage has been mocked all through the poem, the moment that Custard sees the pirate, he sheds all his cowardice and gobbles the pirate up at one go. In the end, Custard emerges as a braveheart.
On the other hand, the pirate who had been full of bravado crumbles upon seeing Custard charge at him. Hence, both Custard and the pirate are not what they seem. This is the lesson that Nash is trying to teach – not to judge any book by its cover. At some point or the other, the true colours of any person will shine through, whether those colours are good or bad