Dragon World is all about dragons. There are books, games, and movies, on dragons. This world will talk about them all. people can send in pictures or story on dragons. Please do.
- Created By HopeDragon
Western Dragons
Western dragons have traditionally been a symbol of evil. A typical Western dragon can fly and breathe fire. Many legends describe dragons as greedy, keeping hordes of gold and other precious treasure. In myths and folklore, dragons were monsters to be conquered. As dragons may be seen to represent the dark side of humanity, including greed, lust, and violence, the conquest of a dragon represents the confrontation and extinguishment of those evil instincts.
The dragon has also been used as a symbol of war. The Viking longship, also called a drakkar or dragon ship, was used to transport Viking warriors on their raids across Europe. Often, sea-going dragon ships would have a dragon head mounted at its stern to ward off sea serpents and evil spirits.
Dragoons, which are a particular kind of soldier originating in the 16th century, received their name from their primary weapon, called a dragon. The dragon was a short Wheelock gun with a muzzle decorated with the head of a dragon. The mounted infantryman with his loose coat and the burning match at a gallop resembled a mythical dragon.
King Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, received his name Pendragon from his older brother, who saw a dragon-shaped comet. Pendragon also means "chief dragon," which refers to Uther's status as chief of warriors.
Tiamat, a god in Babylonian mythology, was sometimes depicted as a beautiful dragon queen. (In Dungeons & Dragons, Tiamat was viewed in a substantially different way, as a queen and mother of evil dragons.)
Dragons also appear in Greek mythology. Apollo, the son of Zeus, slew a dragon with a bow and arrow when he was only four years old. Zeus himself overcame the dragon Typhon using a thunderbolt. In the epic of Jason and the Argonauts, the heroes sought a golden fleece which was guarded by a fierce dragon.
An important English legend is St. George and the Dragon. As the story goes, Saint George was a Christian martyr who killed a dragon in order to rescue the princess Silene. Saint George is the patron saint of England. Other English tales include The Loathsome Dragon and the story of the Lambton Worm.
The French have a tale of Saint Martha and the Dragon. In this tale, a dragon called Tarasque had been terrorizing the small town of Nerluc, situated near the Rhone River. The town had made attempts to slay the dragon, but to no avail. Finally, they called upon a holy lady, Martha, in the town of Saint Marie de la Mer. Martha bravely tamed the beast and led it back to town, where it was killed as punishment for its wickedness. The town changed its name to Tarascon to honor Martha's deed.
Another French tale is that of The Vouivre: The Flying Serpent. Once a year, the serpent Vouivre would leave her guarded treasure to drink and wash herself. A woman named Louise brought her son with her to the dragon's cave to take her treasure, but was discovered by Vouivre. They were captured and imprisoned for an entire year before they finally escaped, carrying with them some of the dragon's gold.
The Yellow Dragon is a Bukovinian gypsy tale about a cowardly dragon. In this story, a poor old man set out to find a honey cake. He fell asleep, and when he awoke, the cake was covered with flies. He killed 100 flies with one block of wood and wrote, "I killed a hundred with a stroke." A cowardly yellow dragon passed by and saw the words. The old man, perceiving the dragon's fear, tricked the dragon into thinking him the strongest man on earth. By tricking the dragon, he earned a huge sack of gold to support his family.
The Ukrrainian folk tale Ivanko and the Dragon regards a boy named Ivanko, who had once been a sapling. The old woman he called mother had a sweet voice. The dragon asked a smith to forge her a voice as sweet as Ivanko's mother's, and then uses it to kidnap Ivanko. Ivanko escaped the fate of being cooked in the dragon's oven, and returned to his parents.
One of the most famous dragon legends in the western world is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf. After some of its treasure was stolen by a man, the dragon went on a rampage in the country of Geats where Beowulf is king. Beowulf, though an old man, set out to kill the monster. With the help of his companion Wiglaf, the dragon was slayed, but Beowulf was mortally wounded.
Yu (禹) and Zû
Yu (禹)
Yu was the rain god in Chinese mythology, a beautiful golden dragon. The legend Yu Controlled the Flood explains how he came to be.
The Yellow Emperor, supreme god of the Chinese, looked upon the earth and the wickedness of its inhabitants. He ordered the rain god to cause a great flood over the earth, to cleanse it of humanity's evil. Kun, the Yellow Emperor's grandson, pleaded with his grandfather to end the rains, but the Yellow Emperor did not listen.
Kun met an old, wise tortoise who offered a solution. He told Kun that the Yellow Emperor kept a jar of magic mud in his treasury, and that this mud would solve his problem. Kun stole the jar of magic mud and began spreading it around. Wherever the mud touched, islands of dry land sprung up from the sea.
Having witnessed this, the Yellow Emperor sent the god of fire to kill Kun. Kun turned into the form of a white horse and hid, but the fire god found him and killed him. From his dead body sprung new life. This new life was Yu, Kun's son. Yu was a beautiful dragon with golden scales, a magnificent mane, and five claws per paw.
Yu went to the Yellow Emperor, and, like his late father, begged him to end the flood. He consented, and gave Yu enough magic mud to restore the land. He also appointed Yu the rain god. Yu ended the rain and, with the help of the old tortoise, used the mud to restore the land.
Yu then used his great tail to carve out rivers in the land. The people, having seen this great deed, asked Yu to be their emperor. He consented, and changed from the form of a dragon into the form of a human. He ruled as their emperor, founding the Xia dynasty.
Zû
Zû was an ancient dragon from mythology of ancient Mesopotamia, Sumer, and Babylon. Zu stole the Tablets of Law and threatened to plunge the world into chaos.
Zû, also known as Anzû (from An, meaning "heaven," and Zû, meaning "far"), is sometimes described as a huge dragon, and other times described as a griffin or storm bird. He is the son of the bird goddess Siris. Both Zû and Siris were massive birds who could breathe fire and water.
As the myth goes, Zû was a servant of the sky god Enlil, ruler of the universe. He was also the attendent of the monstrous Tiamat. Zû stole the Tupsimati, or Tablet of Destinies, from Enlil. Whoever posessed the Tablet of Destinies would have power to rule the universe.
Zû flew high up to the top of the Sabu Mountains, and cached the tablets away like eggs in his nest. Enlil sent his son Ninurta, the sun god, to retrieve them. Ninurta killed Zû and returned the Tablet of Destinies to Enlil.
