Little Knights: A politically incorrect post

One of the most delightful things about little boys is their desire for nobility. This striving after nobility, the desire to be a hero, to protect and defend, and to do great things is something that we need to foster in our sons. Too many boys have been encouraged in mediocrity - left to fulfill their hero-status in a virtual world of video games. Rather, they need to be taught that they can be heroes in the real world by defending purity, saying no when everybody else is saying yes, caring for the needy, defending the unborn; in short, to be a man far greater than the model offered to them by the culture.

This is a difficult task, especially for young boys such as ours who, last I checked, happen to be Caucasian males (one of the most maligned groups of recent history; Caucasian males=whipping posts). As Jacob moaned the other day, "Sometimes it's just so hard to be a boy. It seems like everything is against me." Nevertheless, the modern state of boyhood, the feminisation of education and the plight of the Caucasian male are not the subject of this post.
I'm not aiming for anything lofty on a Monday morning. I'm a bit more anecdotal.

So, back to greatness. This desire for greatness is present in all of our sons. However, at the ages of almost 8, almost 5, 3 and 7 months, it is present in varying degrees. Isaac is still largely interested in milk, his mother and naps of super-hero proportions. Jacob is able to grasp the figurative image of himself as a knight in the modern world. Joe and Ben - not so much. These two boys in the middle are still operating on a largely literal level.

An example:
This morning we were reading about a young squire on the road to knighthood in a book called The Squire and the Scroll. The aspiring knight is shown many times in battle with a large and scary dragon. The dragon image is one that I want them to grasp.
Yes, there is evil and it is bad and it is scary and it is ugly and we don`t want to go anywhere near it.
However, I am finding it very difficult to explain to these two sons that the dragon is representative of evil, of the Devil, of all that they they need to do battle with as little soldiers. Metaphors are lost on these two.
So, I tried a variety of approaches.
1. "The dragon is sort of like all the bad stuff."
Looks of confusion.
2. "The dragon is like the Devil."
More looks of confusion.
3. I decided that maybe, just maybe, grown-up language might really help: "The dragon is representative of the Devil and all the evil that he does in the world. He is the animal that represents evil."
A dawn of understanding spread over Ben's young face: "Oh! You mean the Devil has a pet!!"

I think that I had better wait for some more psychological development before I attempt this subject again.