[ WP ] As a dragon of innumerable age you have guarded your gold horde for millennium . Many heroes have come with long speeches on how they will slay you , the great evil , none finish . However this one is odd.He throws a coin on your stash , looks you in the eyes and says `` I have a proposition for you . ''

Dragons, like cats, are cursed with curiousity. If the mouse puts on a good show, I ca n't resist the urge to play with it. Besides, it had been a long time since I'd let a mortal intruder live long enough to speak and I needed to catch up on a generation of accumulated evolution of the local language before it turned into a whole new language and I needed to kidnap a princess to tutor me. 
 
 `` Speak'', I invited. 
 
 `` Long has been the terror of your rampage across these lands'', began the strange unarmoured and well-fed knight. `` Not a single galleon of gold, nor caravan of silver has escaped your notice. So complete has been the pillaging of our treasuries that coins are oddies, collectables. We no long even use them for trade, instead passing around certificates representing small shares of your hoard should you ever be slain.'' 
 
 I tried to give the poor little mouse a sympatetic tear, although the flaming glimmer in the corner of my crocadillian eye might have been easy to misunderstand. 
 
 `` It turns out that paper is far easier to trade'', continued the mouse. `` Our kingdom has become wealthy and powerful and now dominates the commerce of the continent. Other kingdoms wish to use paper currency as well.'' 
 
 `` Wealth without gold? ``, I asked, confused and a little hurt. 
 
 `` Thus my proposal'', stated the visitor confidently. `` A dozen of our neighour nations would like us to give you all their gold to hoard and protect so that they too can trade certificates rather than ingots and coins.'' 
 
 The world is a strange and mysterious place, even for old dragons. 
 
 

