The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-07
The Dragon in Tradition.

Ian the Year Round.1
When the dragon myth was carried to the
shores of Greece, and embodied in classic liter
ature, it received many new developments and
was presented in several different forms. But
the central idea was the monster engendered
in the darkness and slime of the marshes, the
Python slain by Apollo; and the struggles be-
tween Bellerophon and Chimera, Hercules and
the Lernian Hydra, Gdipus and the Sphinx,
are but versions of the same story. The fable
of the dragon whose ravenous appetite could
be appeased only by the periodical sacrifice OF a
beautiful maiden, which is told in the story Of
Perseus and Andromeda, has been many times
reproduced; and, in the more general form Of
a damsel delivered from the keeping of mon
ster, was a frequent theme in medieval ro-
nance. In the former case 1t will invariably be
found that the hero arrives just in time to de-
liver the kings daughter from the terrible fate
which otherwise awaits her; and, as in the clas-
sic story, is generally rewarded with the lady's
hand.
AS the classic gods and heroes are found in
the mythologies of the north under different
names and in different circumstances, SO the
dragon is still preserved as the opponent Of all
that is good and virtuous In the older Edda,
which belongs to the ninth century, but was
collected by S9mund in the eleventh or twelfth,
it is Sigurd, the popular Scandinavian hero,
who Stays the dragon Fafnir, by whom the
earth has been robbed of its treasure. He de-
scends to the internal regions to recover this;
and there stabs the monster, who addresses 70
him the following serious words: youth and
youth, of what youth art thou born? OF what
men art thou the man? When thou didst tinge
red in Fafnir that bright blade of thine, in my
heart stood the sword'; at the same time fore
telling that the recovered treasure will prove
to DO his ruin. Sigurd then takes the mon
ster's heart, which he roasts and, through
touching it to see if it is done enough, burns
his finger. With the familiar action which has
since been immortalized by Charles Lamb, in
his Dissertation on Roast Pig" the hero then
puts the injured member to his lips and Is i'm
mediately enabled to understand the language
of birds. He thus learns that he must slay Re-
ginn, the dragons brother, who otherwise
would defraud him Of the recovered wealth.
This singular story is slightly varied in the
Teutonic version, in the "Nibelungen Lied"
in which Siegfried, after Staying the dragon
and obtaining his hoard, bathes in the mon
ster's blood and is rendered invQlnerable.
There is an evident connection between these
stories of treasure-keeping dragons and those
of the sleepless dragon of the garden Of the
Hesperides, and that which kept watch over
the golden fleece.
that the dragon found its way into English lit
erature. In Beowulf, the earliest poem of our
Saxon ancestors which has been preserved to
us, the hero's father is dragon slayer: ITO
Sigemund spraDg- deaths day-glory no
little-since battle hardy-he the worm slew
the boards guardian" and Beowulf himself
destroys monster, the keeper of treasure; as
in the tales of Sigurd and Siegfried, Among
the English people, with whom the grotesque
and romantic found always a ready acceptance
stories of dragons had wide popularity, and,
no doubt, were often told on winter nights in
the huts Of swine herds and huntsnen, or were
the theme of stirring songs in the rude halls Of
thames and franklins. Sitting by his log fire, or
looking out from his cottage door as the shades
of night drew on, the Saxon peasant peopled
with elves, the forests and morasses around
him, and gave to the dragon myth Of past ages
and distant climes distinct and local applica-
ton. Henceiit is that the stories of "worms,"
which may still be heard in many parts Of the
north Of England, obtained their places in pop
ular lore.