Summary

Chapter 17 is titled “In the Mouth of the Dragon.” Hiccup falls into Green Death's mouth but does not even slow down until he reaches the back of Green Death's throat, where he gets caught on a broken spear that is sticking in the dragon’s throat. The spear is from the Roman fleet Green Death had eaten all those years earlier. Green Death is furious because he had intended to chew on Hiccup before swallowing him. While Hiccup is hanging there, he notices “green-yellow steam was puffing out of two small holes in the slimy wall” (199), and he realizes this is where the fire comes from. No one has ever figured out where the fire comes from, and the question has been greatly debated among “Viking biologists” (200). The holes are relatively small, and would be too small to see in a normal-sized...