One fine spring day, a down-at-heel minstrel is walking along the seashore, when he comes across a beautiful egg.

To help it hatch, he plays a special tune on his harp.

The shell cracks open and out comes the oddest little creature the minstrel has ever seen: a dragon pup, no bigger than a kitten.

The minstrel takes the little creature, now named Lucky, back to his lodging and feeds it and from that day on, the two are inseparable.

Lucky lives up to his name, bringing the minstrel good fortune until, one dark autumn night, he is stolen.

Sadly, the minstrel wanders the land in search of his friend.

But will they ever be reunited?Rosemary Sutcliff's books include "The Eagle of the Ninth", "The Lantern Bearers" (winner of the Carnegie Medal), "Warrior Scarlet", "Chess-Dream in a Garden" and versions of Beowulf, Tristan and Iseult and the King Arthur legends.Emma Chichester Clark has written and illustrated "Listen to This", which won the Mother Goose Award in 1988.

She has also illustrated "Cissy Lavender", "Good Night, Stella", "The Haunting of Pip Parker", "Ragged Robin" and "I Never Saw a Purple Cow").