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Mythical,
Mystical,
......Factual?
Page 2
Dragons are said to have been very magical and
many could change shape and sizes. Some were also thought to be helpful,
but more often they were terrifying forces. They were thought to horde
gold and treasure, and live for thousands of years. Dragons would ravage
villages, and feed on sheep, horses, .......even people (women preferably
it seems). Dragons have been written into our history, telling of
dragonslayers such as Saint Samson, Saint Philip, Saint Florent, and
numerous others. But possibly the most famous was Saint George the patron
Saint of England. According to legend, locals in a pagan town in Libya
would throw sheep to a dragon that was terrorizing them. Well it seems the
dragon got bored with the sheep after awhile and wanted more. The local
citizens appeased the dragon by sacrificing some of their own people. Then
one day when the local princess was to be sacrificed to the dragon, St
George stepped in, slaughtered the dragon, rescued the princess, and
converted the whole town to Christianity.
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Saint George,
dragon slayer
".... Legends about him as a warrior-saint,
dating from the 6th century, became popular and increasingly
extravagant. Jacob de Voragine's Legenda aurea (1265-66; Golden
Legend) repeats the story of his rescuing a Libyan king's daughter
from a dragon and then slaying the monster in return for a promise
by the king's subjects to be baptized. George's slaying of the
dragon may be a Christian version of the legend of Perseus, who was
said to have rescued Andromeda from a sea monster near Lydda. It is
a theme much represented in art, the saint frequently being depicted
as a youth wearing knight's armour with a scarlet cross...."
From Britannica Online,
Copyright © 1996 Encyclopędia Britannica, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
With the dawn of Christianity many knights were wanting to prove their
faith and they would venture out, seeking the wondrous dragons, not
returning until they had killed one. Thus in a short time this marked the
end of dragon kind. The knights had discovered as well that dragon-hunting
was very profitable. After all, the lair of a dragon held hordes of
treasure collected through its many hundreds (maybe even thousands) of
years of existence. As well as items of note from fallen victims before
hoping to claim a name for themselves by boasting stories of their dragon
kill.
History tells us of dragons through paintings,
carvings, and literature....
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Beowulf
is the first poem of the English literature.
Written around the year 1000, it is the oldest known piece of
literature in English. It speaks of a hero who rids the Danish
kingdom of Hrothgar of two dragons. |
With all this information shouldn't we all believe that the sky was once
no stranger to the flight of a mystical fire breathing beast, hundreds of
feet in length? I'm still skeptical. If dragons did exist, where are their
bones? Hmm, maybe they just vanished in an awesome display of magical
light like in the movie
Dragon Heart. It's
noted in the legend of King Arthur, that Merlin was able to change into a
dragon whenever he wanted to. It's also known that some dragons had the
ability to shapeshift. Maybe after dyeing the dragon turned back in to
human form. For that matter maybe Merlin was actually a dragon. But that's
another story........
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