By Jim O'Sullivan

Ted Kennedy, venerable slayer of GOP dragons in the United States Senate for 40 years now, stood on Nonquit Street Green on Saturday morning and coronated a gentler dragon, a "scholarly dragon." A bronze piece of installation art from the hands of renowned sculptor Nancy Schön, the "Dragon for Dorchester" will reside harmlessly in the Uphams Corner park, encouraging children to read, and testifying to the fighting spirit of neighborhood.

"Art is essential to a livable community," said Ruth Clarke, president of the Nonquit St. Neighborhood Association, the driving force behind the campaign to beautify Nonquit St., which boasts an award-winning garden at its terminus, and the sparkling new green at its intersection with Dudley Street.

"Nothing is impossible for this community, nothing is impossible for Uphams Corner," Clarke told the morning gathering. "We do not have to take 'good enough for Dorchester.' We can take what's good enough for Beacon Hill, what's good enough for Newton, what's good enough for Weston."

"Nonquit St. has done something once again that people said could not happen," said Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who was said in the morning's humorously-phrased program to "speak a special magic language, just like dragons and children speak a special magic language."

The dragon, a low-to-the-ground, mild-tempered sort, is surrounded by books and is available for story time near the green's jungle gym. On Saturday, Angela Menino, Boston's First Lady and an avowed dragon admirer, read the mythical tale of "Fuku Riu," the dragon's name, written by Schön. Fuku Riu, which means "lucky dragon" in Japanese, is, in Schön's words, "my scholarly, whimsical, gentle, and living dragon," designed to nurture the imagination and beautify the neighborhood.

Schön, better known for her "Make Way for Ducklings" work in the Public Gardens and "Tortoise and the Hare" rendering in Copley Square, said she's been known as "the Duck Lady" for her depiction of Mother Mallard being followed by her brood.

"Am I going to be called the dragon lady now?" Schön asked the crowd.

Kennedy, the Massachusetts senior senator, read "The Tale of the Custard Dragon" to a gaggle of children gathered in front of him on small carpets, who at times appearing more interested in a mascot-costumed creature of indeterminate species crouched next to him. "I think I'm losing my audience here," Kennedy chuckled at one point as aides, used to watching their boss spar with presidents and majority leaders over weighty foreign policy issues, enjoyed the morning's levity.

Teresa Heinz, ketchup heiress and sharp-tongued wife of presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, was among other luminaries who read from dragon-themed books. Bernard A. Margolis, the first president of the Boston Public Library, read "Marty and the Dragon," prefacing his delivery by saying, "We're going to make sure we get going; we don't want to drag on too much."

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