How to Train Your Dragon

Three weeks later, when Toothless comes out of hibernation, Hiccup begins his manual on how to train dragons. His introduction proposes that speaking Dragonese is more effective than traditional yelling. He describes Dragonese as “complex and sophisticated” (33), comparing it to human language. He then offers humorous examples of dragon speak with translations, e.g., “Please would you be so kind as to spit my friend out?” (33).

When Hiccup starts training Toothless with this new method, he shocks Fishlegs. Toothless presses his head against Hiccup’s as a gesture of understanding, but then he bites Hiccup, demanding fish. When Hiccup says they don’t have any, the dragon tries to eat the cat. To solve this, they put Toothless in Stoick’s room, which is infested with mice. When Stoick comes in and Toothless mistakes his beard for a chicken, the chief shows his control of dragons by yelling at Toothless, immediately causing him to stop. Stoick is upset that Hiccup’s dragon is small and toothless, but Fishlegs manages to convince the chief that he is a rare, practically extinct variety related to the Monstrous Nightmare.

That night, Hiccup worries that Newtsbreath, one of his father’s hunting dragons, might eat Toothless.