In 1853, a dragon named Griaule lived in the Carbonails Valley. A fortune in silver was offered for killing the gigantic beast; none of the numerous hunters succeeded in carrying out this venture. Hundreds of plans were put forward one after another, but they all failed because they were pure madness or suffered from lack of thought. So everything dragged on from year to year, people came and went, only to return again, and in the spring of 1853, Merik Cattanay appeared in Carbonails and offered to paint the dragon with poisoned paint...

The story was nominated for Hugo - 1985, Nebula - 1985, World Fantasy Awards - 1985, British Science Fiction Association Awards - 1985