More Dragons and Faeries

DRAGON: According to a legend of the Middle Ages there once lived in a distant pagan land a dreadful monster called a dragon. The flapping of its great batlike wings could be heard for miles around. With a single blow of its terrible claws it could fell an ox. From its nostrils came clouds of smoke and flame that brought death to those who breathed it.
      Every year a young girl was offered to it to prevent it from rushing upon the city and destroying all the inhabitants. One year the lot fell to Princess Sabra, daughter of the king. She was saved by the valiant St. George, youngest and bravest of the seven champions of Christendom.
     With his magic sword Ascalon, he wounded the monster so badly that the princess was able to put her sash about its head and lead it to the marketplace of the town. There St. George slew it with one blow. Won over to the Christian faith by this deed of its champion, the people were baptized.

Other Dragon Legends
This is but one of the many dragon stories told in the lore of different countries. Before the time of Columbus and the age of discovery sailors refused to venture into unknown seas for fear of encountering dragons and other monsters of the deep. Old maps show the uncharted seas filled with strange creatures having wings, horns, and claws of such enormous size that they could crush a ship. The dragons of Chinese and Japanese myth and art were reptiles with batlike wings and claws and were supposed to spread disease and death among the people. For ages the dragon was the emblem of the former imperial house of China.
     These superstitions may have been based on the fact that mammoth reptiles roamed the prehistoric world. Dinosaurs lived in the ages before man appeared on Earth. However, there may have been some reptiles of great size at the time of the primitive cavemen of Europe. Such beasts would easily give rise to legends of monsters such as the dragons.
      In the East Indies certain small lizards, 7 or 8 inches long, are known as dragons. They are about the color of tree bark. The skin along their sides between the legs spreads out into a kind of parachute, enabling them to fly among the branches of the trees in which they live. There are about 20 species, all harmless.