Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Challenge - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Once upon a time there was a kingdom full of people who were bad at math. This didn't normally bother them until one day a dragon showed up at the castle with a challenge. When the dragon found no one could answer his challenge, he grew visibly upset. The visibly upset dragon caused the king and queen to also become visibly upset (mostly because the dragon was intruding on their living space and wouldn't go away). Thus, they sent out their guardsmen on a quest to scour the realm for anybody who could deal with the dragon.

Avatara, on 28 June 2018 - 10:59 PM, said:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Diga who lived in a kingdom terrorized by a dragon. The king and queen sent their soldiers to scour the realm looking for a champion who could get rid of their dragon problem. The guardsmen traveled far and wide across the realm, looking for a mystical savior, but without much success. Then one day, they passed by a house where a little girl was sitting in the front yard, reading a book.

"I'll do it!" Diga shouted, jumping to her feet, the book slipping from her fingers. She wasn't sure what they meant by challenging a dragon, but dealing with dragons sounded a lot more exciting than staying home and washing the dishes.

"Uhh, how old are you?" the guards squinted down at her from atop their horses.

"Oh, I'm eight, but I can give your problem a try anyway," Diga replied.

The guards looked at one another and considered. The king and queen were probably expecting someone a little more formidable, but they had technically asked for anybody who wanted to take on the dragon, and she was the first volunteer they had seen. Besides, riding around on horses all day for weeks on end was uncomfortable and their legs were starting to chafe.

"All right," the guards agreed. "Follow us!"

The guards led Diga back to the castle where she found the king, the queen, and the dragon waiting in the Royal Audience chamber. The dragon looked up as she entered while the king and queen looked on nervously.

"Hello Mr. Dragon," Diga said. "What seems to be your problem?"

"Oh," the dragon replied. "I'm trying to decorate our new swimming pool for the missus. I thought I'd cover it in water lilies, which are her favorite, but I don't know how many to buy. I came here to ask around, but nobody seems to know the answer."

Diga thought for a moment. The king and queen looked even more nervous. All of the kingdom's hopes now rested on the little girl's answer.

"Well," Diga began. "That's actually quite simple. You can calculate the surface area of the pool using integration by parts, then divide that by the circumference of the average water lily and that'll tell you how many flowers you need to buy."

"Umm, yeah. What she said!" The king nodded vigorously.

"Ah, I never thought of that," the dragon considered. He smiled, apparently liking her answer. "Thank you, little one. You're pretty good at this."

Diga beamed at the praise and the queen flashed her a thumbs-up.

"Well, then. I should be off to go buy some flowers," the dragon said. He rose up on all four legs and took off with a rush of wind, departing the palace.

The shadow of the dragon was gone, and the kingdom could return to normal affairs once more.

But Diga's feat did not go unrewarded. The people elected her the new queen, and she ruled over all the realm for many years, beating everyone that challenged her to a board game with her superior math skills.

The End.


(P.S. Happy birthday, Diga!)

Oh my turtle! :D I was totally not expecting you to write Diga a birthday story! This is awesome, I can't wait to show it to her :D

Diga wrote this response:

once a queen wrote a story about a girl who saved a village from a dragon and all the people loved the story the end.