nine o'clock
The shepherd was formally introduced and many compliments and kind inquiries were exchanged . His wife , however , though expressing her willingness to do anything she could -- to mend things , or set the cave to rights , or cook a little something when the dragon had been poring over sonnets and forgotten his meals , as male things will do , could not be brought to recognize him formally . The fact that he was a dragon and `` they did n't know who he was '' seemed to count for everything with her . She made no objection , however , to her little son spending his evenings with the dragon quietly , so long as he was home by nine o'clock : and many a pleasant night they had , sitting on the swan , while the dragon told stories of old , old times , when dragons were quite plentiful and the world was a livelier place than it is now , and life was full of thrills and jumps and surprises . What the Boy had feared , however , soon came to pass . The most modest and retiring dragon in the world , if he 's as big as four cart-horses and covered with blue scales , can not keep altogether out of the public view . And so in the village tavern of nights the fact that a real live dragon sat brooding in the cave on the Downs was naturally a subject for talk .