Know Some Fun, Crazy Dragon Facts – All You Wanted to Know About Dragons
Dragons are universally accepted to be “mythical animals usually represented as monstrous winged and scaly serpents or Saurians with crested heads and enormous claws”. The creatures found their first mention in the Greek epic The Iliad where Agamemnon was said to have a motif of a blue dragon on his sword and an emblem of a three-headed dragon on his breast plate. Since then, dragons slowly crawled into our history, culture and mythology to emerge as one of the most-hated or the most-loved fictional animals.
Dragon Myths in the West
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Perceptions on dragons in the West differ significantly from that in the East. Though they first appeared in European Literature, it is in the Far East that they have evolved and gained humungous popularity. Dragons in the Far East are associated with magnanimity – rainfall, harvest, good luck, fertility, heroism and Buddhism. They associate dragons with Yin and Yang – the harmony of which two universal forces make the earth go round. On the contrary, dragons were believed to be enemies of the Sun and the Moon, and therefore responsible for eclipses. It was believed that eclipses occurred when dragons attempted to swallow the heavenly bodies, justifying their mention in ancient astronomy. Compared to the West, these beasts were smaller. They had longish bodies with two horns for ears. Known to be friends of humanity, Chinese dragons breathed soft clouds and dined only on sparrows and made sounds of jingling bells and beating gongs! Some popular dragon facts in the East are:
- They were believed to have nine anatomical resemblances to other animals – a stag’s horns, a camel’s head, eyes of a demon, neck of a snake, belly of a shellfish, scales of a carp, claws and talons of an eagle, soles of a tiger, ears of a cow and a lump called a Chimu on top of his head which he could not fly without.
- It’s universally known that dragons fly but there’s no seemingly scientific explanation as to how Chinese dragons flew because only some of them had bat-like wings!
- Killing dragons was considered to be a sin. However, a bath in a slain dragon’s blood could make a person see into the future!
- Sowing a dragon’s tooth in the ground resulted in indomitable heroic soldiers in the Far East!
Dragon Myths in the West
Dragons in the Western world were believed to be fierce, greedy and had a love only for gold! It’s this picture of dragons that generally crosses our minds when we come to think of Western dragons. As opposed to Chinese dragons, the creatures in the West boasted of two hind legs, two forelegs, a mighty set of bat wings, wedge-shaped heads, extremely sharp claws, traces of fur, and fringed tongues. Archaeologists and scientists believe it’s the spitting serpents that have sparked the myth that dragons blow hot air, poisonous enough to kill evil soldiers! They’ve been known to be killed by heroes like Beowulf St. George and Archangel Michael who slew Satan the Dragon. Since they have been one of the most favorite mythological and fictional characters of all time,
dragon facts have continued to mesmerize us since time immemorial. Popular dragon facts in the West are:
- St. George once rescued a princess of a small town from the fatal blows of a dragon and caught the beast alive. He agreed to slay the dragon only if all the townsmen baptized and converted themselves to Christianity.
- Soldiers who managed to slay a dragon in the West were believed to bring good luck, charm, and gifts of prosperity to the people of his town.
- Eating a dragon’s tongue ensured immortality against any fight! This belief stemmed from the fact that dragons were not only very intelligent creatures but they also held deep and powerful secrets.
- Dragons lived in caves and mountains close to towns and villages where they could conveniently find their prey.
- Just one puff of a dragon’s breath was poisonous enough to kill a man.
- A sword dipped in a slain dragon’s blood would inflict wounds that would never heal!
Besides the fictional dragons that apparently existed a very long time ago, there are dragons –
Komodo dragons – that still inhabit Indonesia and are on the verge of extinction. These are vastly different from the mythological creatures and unfortunately have no cool dragon facts and myths to boast of!
