Analysis Of St. George s The Dragon Falls - 2852 Words

A fair maiden walks solemnly through the city gates, away from her family, her home, and everything she has ever known. She begins to weep as she heads down the dusty dirt road, towards a large pond, the home of the treacherous dragon that terrorized the surrounding cities. Just before she reaches the pond, a man in glimmering silver armor rides up to her on a majestic white steed. He calls out to her and asks why she weeps. The distraught girl warns him of the dragon of the pond, begging him to flee before it is too late. The man, the mighty St. George, refuses her request just as a thundering roar fills the air. Before their eyes, the fearsome dragon rears out of the water, bellowing his rage to the skies. Saint George charges†¦show more content†¦While it is likely that the dragon-slaying is merely an embellishment on St. George’s true tale, what are the limits of the fiction revolving around this legend? Did St. George receive credit for another man’s triumph? Did anybody ever slay the dragon in Silene, Libya (where St. George was said to have slain the dragon)? Was there ever a dragon in Silene? Were there ever dragons anywhere in the world? Tales of the mighty reptilian beasts known as Dragons can be found all over the world from all throughout history. The origin of dragons is unknown, although there are legends that can be traced to approximately 5,000 B.C. (Owens). These legends have appeared independently all over the Earth, with variations of course, but still enough similarity to be clearly identified as the same creatures. Although the modern world no longer fears dragons as the dangerous creatures lurking in the hidden corners of the world, should their existence be dismissed entirely? The Earth has held many equally monstrous creatures, from the 60 ft. shark Megalodon (Patton) to the 50 ft. snake Titanoboa (Gowan) or even the recently discovered 130 ft. titanosaur (currently unnamed) (Frizell). Compared to oth er creatures that have roamed the Earth, dragons may seem no less believable however, (I) although dragons appeared independently and simultaneously across the globe, they did so with many physical and behavioral differences (II) nowadays dragons have faded into mythology,