While going home after a morning of sledding, Rupert and Bill get lost and find a secret tunnel that leads to a hidden medieval-esque village. There, they meet the knight the townspeople rely on for protection and the dragon they live in constant terror of. When he sees how nice both of them are, however, Rupert concludes they’d be better off if they were friends rather than devoting their lives to trying to kill each other, but getting them (let alone all the villagers) to agree won’t be easy.
Start of the Running Gag of Bill’s tendency to pick disastrous shortcuts.
This episode provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Downplayed. Sir Claude’s great aunt used to force him to put his chainmail on in the cold without any garments on underneath, to toughen him up.
- Action Girl: Sir Claude’s gallery of his dragon-slaying ancestors includes his great-aunt.
- Arch Enemies: Sir Claude the knight and Cledwin the dragon.
- An Aesop: There will always be those who cannot let bygones be bygones. Some people will always hate and fear who or what they don't understand, and some people will always see anthropomorphic dragons as monsters, not sentient people. Happily Cledwin and Sir Claude have a plan to work around this so they can live together in peace.
- Deadpan Snarker: Rupert gets in on this during their second attempt at tobogganing:Bill: I just made a slight miscalculation last time. I forgot take along my brake man!*Rupert looks around in confusion.*Bill: What are you looking for?Rupert: Someone crazy enough to be your brake man!
- Death Faked for You: Sir Claude and Cledwin stage a battle in the town square so he’ll be safe from the villagers’ persecution.
- Failed a Spot Check: Both Bill and Rupert didn't notice straightaway how warm Sir Claude's freezing ancestral home was after his duel with Cledwin. The dragon's presence alone has provided the draughty old castle with central heating!
- Forbidden Friendship: Cledwin and Sir Claude are soon more than willing to become friends, but they both know the villagers would never stand for it.
- Hidden Elf Village: Played with – the town, surrounded by high mountains and only accessible through a hidden tunnel, looks like it was built in The Dark Ages and is led by a Knight in Shining Armor whose Arch-Enemy is a real dragon and whose home lacks all the modern technology and comforts available in Nutwood. The outside world has no idea the village existed prior to the boys’ discovery, but the village knows enough about the customs of the world that embraced the passage of time for Sir Claude to start talking in modern English when he sees the boys don’t understand “knightly talk.”
- Hypocritical Humor: Bill spends the entire episode trying to convince Rupert that it’s hopeless to expect two people as polar opposite as a knight and a dragon to be friends, apparently unaware of just how odd the boys’ friendship is, as well.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Poor Bill crashes his sled into a pool of water on a cold, snowy winter day and freezes to the point where he almost can’t walk.
- Look Behind You: Rupert does this to Bill during their Snowball Fight, pretending to wave hello to Algy and nailing Bill in the back of the head when he turns!Bill: All set to go tobogganing, Rupert?Rupert: Almost, but there's something I have to do first. Hi Algy!Bill: Algy? Where? I don't see him. *gets nailed with a snowball* AGH!Rupert: Now I'm ready to go!
- Never My Fault:Bill: You must have taken a wrong turn.Rupert: Me?! This is your shortcut!
- Reluctant Monster: Cledwin the dragon has no desire to harm anyone and wishes people would stop seeing him as a mindless, bloodthirsty menace.
- Seen It All: Mrs. Bear’s only reaction to seeing a sword-bearing knight and fire-breathing dragon brawling in her living room and knocking over everything in their path is to sigh in resignation, “I’d better get the mop.” Makes you wonder if her son has already been doing stuff like this on a regular basis...Mrs. Bear: Rupert, you know better than to skirmish in the parlor.
- Shortcuts Make Long Delays: The boys find the tunnel and village while taking one of Bill’s infamous shortcuts.
- Snowball Fight: The boys’ day starts with one of these.
- Trying Not to Cry: After Sir Claude apparently slays Cledwin, Rupert is constantly on the verge of tears as Bill comforts him, and when Sir Claude comes to them to tell them of the grand battle, Rupert scolds him, turns away and is about to break, until Sir Claude asks if he wants to talk about it over a nice hot cup of tea, at which point Rupert immediately realises that it was staged, since who else could be a source of hot water? (Although Bill doesn't immediately catch on).
- Worthy Opponent: Sir Claude and Cledwin both admire each other’s moves after their first attempt at fighting.
- You Must Be Cold: Platonic version — Rupert gives Bill his coat to stop his friend from freezing to death after their spill in Tiddler’s Pool.
