Part one of the introductory chapter of Frederick William Hackwood's, turn of the twentieth century, exploration of dragonlore.
FULL ILLUSTRATED TEXT : http://www.justgenealogy.plus.com/fwhdd01.htm
NO one has ever seen a living dragon, because dragons do not exist. Most of us, however, have a very fair conception of what a dragon is supposed to look like, having often seen pictures or representations of such fearsome beasts ; for instance, engravings of the dragon which was encountered by St .George may be seen on the reverse of some of our gold and silver coins and on the front of pound notes.
The dragon is merely a fabulous animal, that is, a creature of the imagination, and the early traditions of the human race are full of the most curious stories in which a leading part is taken by dragons. Although those primitive, unlettered, and wonder-loving people of early times were unfettered and altogether unrestricted by existing facts, and gave free play to their imaginations in building up descriptions of the fabled monster, their accounts generally agreed in quite a number of the qualities that a dragon was supposed to possess.
First of all, a dragon was always of immense size and strength, and very frightful to behold - a monster, in fact. Although like the crawling serpent, of the reptile family, he always had four legs. But both his tail and his head were elongated to snake-like proportions, and he was further inclined towards the same class of animals in being covered with tough scales, in having poisonous fangs and a stinging tail, and in affecting slimy ways in desert wastes. Then, in addition, he was armed with terrible claws and had wings wherewith to pursue and overtake his enemies. Sometimes he had a barbed tail and a barbed tongue, and often he breathed out scorching, fiery breath.
Yet, though possessed of legs like a quadruped and of wings like a bird, he always remained essentially a reptile of the serpent class. An old Latin proverb said: "Unless a serpent eats a serpent it will not become a dragon." Indeed, dragons are, as Barham, one of our humorous poets, put it :
"Such great ugly things,
All legs and wings,
With nasty long tails armed with nasty stings !"
"The dragon's crest is to be feared," says another Latin proverb. It is the darting, poisonous crest, and the coiling, strangling tail of the dragon, which show his kindred to the serpent.
All reptiles appear to be so less natural than other animals that man is always disposed to regard them with dislike. In the ancient romance of chivalrous knighthood, Sir Percivale, in one of his adventures in the Quest of the Holy Grail, comes upon a lion fighting with a serpent who had stolen its cubs, and (says the old tale) "regarding the lion as the more natural beast of the two, he determined to help it. He drew his sword and slew the serpent ; whereupon the grateful lion fawned upon him, and followed him like a spaniel, couching at his feet when he lay down to sleep at night."
We can readily think of a lion becoming a tame, domesticated animal, but we cannot very easily reconcile ourselves to the notion of warming a frozen snake in one's bosom - which, indeed, the man in the fable found to be a very unwise thing to do.
The Bible has many allusions to the serpent - to its poisonous nature, its sharp tongue, and its dreadful bite ; in addition to which it is said in the Old Testament to be "subtle," and in the New to be "wise" - so subtle was it that it beguiled Man to his Fall. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a "fiery flying serpent," and in the Book of Revelation we read of "the great dragon...that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." So we have in this text the important idea of a connecting link between the serpent and the dragon. The dragon seems to be a glorified serpent, a super-serpent, a serpent with added terrors. In fact the two creatures appear to be the same and their names interchangeable - a something, according to Scripture, to be "trampled" on, a something to be "slain" without hesitation or remorse. Also something, owing to its great cunning, to be very wary of. For Shakespeare, our sovereign poet, says "Come not between the dragon and its wrath."
If you go into an old parish church you may sometimes see an ancient tomb with the figure of the person buried beneath carved in stone or alabaster, represented in the costume of the period, often a knight in armour, or it may be a priest in his clerical robes. At the feet of this recumbent effigy some animal is nearly always represented as lying, as a lion or a dog ; but if the person commemorated is a dignitary of the church, the carving is invariably that of a dragon. This is in symbolic allusion to Psalm xci. 13 "The young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet."
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CH 2 - (Part 1/8) St.George and the Dragon (Part 1 of 8)by HackwoodHistory3,302 views
Lmfao Da-Wagon!
undeadmonq 1 year ago
my bad =s"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DO NOT READ THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in 1971 there were 2 people named kyle and emily went into a house and said 2 kill u then another person went into the house and saw finger nail marks on the door if u read this u have 2 post it on 5 diffrent vids or kyle and emily will kill u at night i dont know if that true but do it in case sorry
mintyfreshnicki 3 years ago