Dragons

Why are dragons recognised in almost all cultures on Earth What is the mysterious geomantic gold they secretly guard Could dragons be a folk memory of something which once hunted us In this beautiful little book Joyce Hargreaves tells the story of these extraordinary animals through examples drawn from all over the world. Richly illustrated, and with detailed appendices of noteable dragon sites around the United Kingdom, this is an essential and timeless book.

• To save a Mayd St. George the dragon slew, A pretty tale if all is told be true. Most say there are
• by Joyce Hargreaves Dragons First published 2006 AD This edition Wooden Books Ltd 2006 AD Publishe
• Contents Introduction 1 What is a Dragon 2 Tiamat 4 Yggdrasils Dragons 6 The Si
• 1 The Dragon is the most nebulous, complex and ambivalent of all the animals that inhabit the jungle
• 2 3 Early naturalists believed that the dragon was a real animaloften maps of foreign countries were
• 4 5 The account of the creation epic Enuma Elish the Babylonian genesis was discovered in the form o
• 6 7 In Old Norse tradition, the ash tree Yggdrasil, Cosmic Tree of Life, stands at the still point o
• 8 9 From the very earliest times, dragons in the West have been intimately connected with earth godd
• 10 11 Nagas are the semidivine, semihuman serpent spirits of Indian origin who are known throughout
• 12 13 chInese Japanese dragons Ancient Chinese writers describe four types of dragon the TianLung
• 14 15 feng shuI the azure dragon The art of Feng Shui fung shway, or wind and water, evolved some 2
• 16 17 dragons of the amerIcas The dragons of the North American Indians are more serpentine in shape
• 18 19 the hYdra The mythological Hydra embodies the fertilising powers of water. Today, anything thi
• 20 21 the constellatIon draco The Greek word Drakon comes from a verb meaning to see or to watch and
• 22 23 the fIredrake Arthur Rackhams drawing of the dragon Fafnir from The Ring of the Nibelung. 23 H
• 24 25 tYphon It is not just air and water which flow. Fire too undulates, and the ancestor of all f
• 26 27 the draconIopIdes When a new religion conquers an earlier one, old customs and gods are either
• 28 29 the Worm A Northern European dragon who has a serpentine shape but lacks wings or legs is ter
• 30 31 the WYvern Early depictions of the dragon show it in the form of a serpent, and the Wyvern is
• 32 33 la WouIvre Portrayed with the head and upper body of a voluptuous woman the beneficent French
• 34 35 the BasIlIsk The Basilisk is the king of serpents, and monarch of smaller reptiles. In early
• 36 37 the amphIsBaena The Amphisbaena is a doubleheaded dragon or serpent, usually portrayed with bi
• 38 39 holY dragonslaYers Pictures of dragonslayers often show the saints spear forcing the dragons h
• 40 41 Below Left The dragon in this heraldic drawing is not devouring its prey the image instead
• 42 43 The literature surrounding the secretive and magical art of Alchemy is rich with dragons, wher
• 44 45 The image of the caduceus, with its pair of serpents climbing up a central staff, is very anci
• 46 47 The term ley or ley line denotes a series of straight alignments of ancient sites such as stan
• 48 49 The idea of dragon or serpent lines in the landscape finds its earliest expression in the art
• 50 51 Today we live within the modern myth of science. It tells of a long gone age where the earth
• 52 53 What has scales, breathes fire and flies Not only dragons, but the Earth does too. Throughou
• 54 55 is said to be the place where the dying dragons blood poisoned the earth. Close by is Wormsl
• 56 57 at Bache Pool at Moston just as it was about to eat a small child. The family crest is a dr
• 58 dragon who is fond of music and decorates the bridge of stringed instruments, or Fuxi, who loves