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Have you seen a living, breathing
dragon in person lately? Me neither.
But that doesn't mean they don't exist.
The history of dragons goes back at
least six thousand years, and there
are dragon tales and legends from
every continent except Antarctica.
In some places, dragons have been
considered helpful to people -- they
were the national symbol of China
-- but in European history, they have
generally been considered to be evil,
often hoarding treasure or about to
devour a fair maiden. Men who succeeded
in slaying one have generally been
acclaimed as heroes and saints. Some
famous dragon-slayers include Siegfried,
Sigmund, Beowulf, Arthur, Tristram,
Lancelot, Saint Michael, and Saint
George.
While most people today don't worry
much about dragons, until about a
hundred years ago, everyone took them
seriously. Sightings were reported
worldwide. One dragon in France was
said to kill over 3,000 people before
the twelfth century.
There have been many different types
of dragons and they have been reported
to live in the center of the word,
the middle of the ocean, in caves
and other dark and damp places, and
in fire. At the time of Christopher
Columbus, when the world was flat
(or at least people thought so), maps
said "Here Be Dragons" at the edge
of the world.
It may be that dragon stories partly
grew out of people finding dinosaur
bones. Since the concept of dinosaurs
didn't come into science until the
1800s, any large fossilized bone found
before then had to from a dragon,
a giant, or in some parts of the world,
an elephant.
Whatever the actual origins of dragon
tales may be, dragons are immensely
popular now. They turn up in video
games, films, books, and other art
forms. There are many dragon posters.
Dragons have become powerful symbols
of the forces that exist in our world,
and of the complexities of the human
spirit.
About the Author
Rosana Hart is a reference librarian
turned webmaster. Visit her site at
http://www.infoandhelp.com/posters/
for a selection of popular posters
and articles about their subjects.
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