Australia’s national science agency has issued a rare apology to a seven-year-old girl for not being able to make her a fire-breathing dragon, blaming a lack of research into the mythical creatures.
The youngster, Sophie, wrote to a “Lovely Scientist” at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), politely asking whether they could make her a winged pet of her own.
“I would call it Toothless if it was a girl and if it is a boy I would name it Stuart,” she wrote in her letter, promising to feed it raw fish and play with it when she wasn’t at school.
Toothless is the name of a dragon befriended by a Viking teenager in the How to Train Your Dragon series of children’s books. Stuart is her father’s name.
Sophie’s request prompted an unusual apology from the 87-year-old institution, which admitted “we’ve missed something”.
“There are no dragons,” it said in a blog reply posted on its website this week.
“Over the past 87 odd years we have not been able to create a dragon or dragon eggs,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}“Over the past 87 odd years we have not been able to create a dragon or dragon eggs,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}“But our work has never ventured into dragons of the mythical, fire breathing variety. And for this Australia, we are sorry.”
“Would dragon fuel be a low emissions option? Thanks for the fuel for thought, Sophie. We’re looking into it,” it said.
The enquiry had a fairytale ending Friday when the CSIRO announced that, thanks to Sophie’s letter, “a dragon was born”.
Sophie’s mother Melissah Lester said her daughter had asked for a dragon for Christmas, and her father, Stuart, had told her it would not be possible, prompting the seven-year-old to contact a scientist for help.