Search my site! (enter key word): Don't use "dragon" if you want to be specific.	Click on the myth you'd like to read below, or scroll down and read them all. The Curse of the Lambton Worm Perseus and the Dragon of Poseidon St. George and the Dragon The Dragonet of Mount Pilatus The Chinese Dragon's Pearl Tristan and the Fire Dragon Rustam and the Dragon The Curse of the Lambton Worm: John Lambton was fishing with not very much luck one Sunday, when suddenly he felt a tug on his line. Finally. But when he pulled it out of the water, he thought it was some very large aquatic worm with black skin, perhaps-until he saw it's face. It had long needle-like teeth and many gill slits on it's neck. It had big black eyes, and they captured him like nothing else. All he wanted to do now was to get rid of it, and so he tossed it into a well. But the worm had survived, and one day, after John had left on a pilgrimage, one of the peasants noticed a tail gleaming with slime. They followed it, and saw the serpent, now grown to have legs. The Lambton worm ate all the livestock and frightened villagers. Every once in a while, a brave one would try to destroy the worm, but it was always a doomed attempt. Finally, John Lambton came back and saw all of this. He went to a witch and requested advice. He was told that he had to wear a special suit of armor with blades all over it. John must also confront it in the middle of a river. One other thing he had to do was to kill the next living thing that he met, or the Lambton lineage would suffer for nine generations. He did all this, and succeeded. He came home, and his father was ecstatic. Unfortunately, his father was the first living thing that Lambton met. But Lambton couldn't do it, and so the Lambton heirs were cursed for the next nine generations. Perseus and the Dragon of Posdeidon : Perseus, travelling on his winged sandals, noticed a maiden, who was tied up and gazing fearfully at the sea. She looked at him, and proceeded to tell her story. She was Princess Andormeda. Her mother, a vain woman, one day claimed that she was even lovelier than the sea nymphs. The sea god Poseidon called Cetus, a serpent dragon, from the depths of the ocean, and ordered it to create havoc in their land. The people called out in fear, and he told them that only the queen's daughter's sacrifice could rid them of the monster. Well now, Perseus wasn't just going to leave her there. When Cetus surfaced, a serpent dragon that resembled a giant whale with large ivory tusks, Perseus waited to make his move. While the dragon was intent on the lady, Perseus swung in, and thrust his sword underneath the head of the monster. It collapsed, and floated down to the depths of the sea. St. George and the Dragon: There once was a great city that didn't have any source of water. To get water, people had to go outside the city walls to a nearby oasis. Unfortunately, it was guarded by a fierce dragon that wouldn't let anyone have water unless he was given a maiden to eat. The dragon's means of defense was his breath, which was very toxic. Many people tried to kill it, but nobody could get by his breath. Finally, only the King's daughter was left. The people of the city begged the king to give her up, and he finally gave in and sent his only daughter. Just as she was about to be eaten, St. George showed up on a white horse. He charged against the dragon, and killed it with a lance in the heart. The Dragonet of Mt. Pilatus: This dragon was only about the size of a man and very lethal to anything that it touched. Its fiery breath charred everything, and no one had the skills to defeat it. A man name Winckelriedt had been exiled for his fearsome temper combined with his great swordplay, which was not a good mix. But, he was the only person who seemed likely to get rid of the dragonet, and so they called his back. He went up to its cave, where it was already waiting for him. It had wings, and was barely as tall as the challenger. The battle went on, until finally, in an attempt to blow fire too close to Winckelriedt's sword blade, the dragon was killed. The Chinese Dragon's Pearl: A long time ago in China, a boy and his mother lived by a river. The boy earned money by cutting grass and selling it to villagers. One summer there wasn't any rain. The boy had to travel farther to find grass that wasn't dry and brown. Finally, many miles from the village, there was a patch of nice green grass. He hurried home to sell it. He always went to the same spot where the nice grass was. After a while, he was tired of walking so long and far. He decided to dig some of the grass up and plant it near his house. So he went to dig it up. When he did, a big pearl rolled out of the earth he had just dug up. He took the pearl and took it home to his mother. The pearl was worth good money, and so his mother hid it for safekeeping in an empty rice jar. The next day, the grass in the nice spot was dead and brown. "The pearl will by us food," said his mother. She lifted the jar's lid, and saw the rice jar was now filled with rice! The pearl was magic, they realized. That night they put the pearl on top of three coins in the money jar. Morning came and it was full with money! They told no one about the pearl but the people realized that they were growing richer. One day robbers broke in. In panic, the boy grabbed the pearl and swallowed it. His insides began to burn. He ran to the well, but his stomach stayed on fire. His skin cracked and got scaly. He sprouted horns and wings. In no time at all, he had become a dragon. Tristan and the Fire Dragon: When a great dragon came and began killing and spreading fire over the land of Ireland, the King decided that he would give whoever slayed the dragon his daughter Iseult's hand in marriage. There was a young knight called Tristan, who was there as a messenger from his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, to ask for the hand of the beautiful Iseult for his King. Tristan thought that if he could kill the dragon the maiden would be his and he could take her to King Mark. Tristan took a wine skin full of water and hung it over the door to the monster's lair because he knew that water was fatal to fire dragons. But little did her know that the major-domo of the royal household, who very much secretly liked the princess Iseult, was hiding, watching to see what would happen. The steward had the idea that he could take advantage of them for himself. When the dragon appeared, the wine skil full of water fell and quenched his fire. Tristan and the dragon then began to fight against each other. At last, after long hours of combat, Tristan managed to kill the dragon, but was so tired that he only had the strength to cut out dragon's tongue before fainting. Then the steward came and he cut off the dragon's head and presented himself to the king, claiming the promised reward. Iseult was in great despair, for she did not desire the old major-domo for a husband. She did not believe the steward, and so she paid a secret visit. When she reached the cave and saw the unconscious young man, Iseult understood that they had been tricked. She sent her servants to bring back the wounded man in secret to the palace, where she cared for him. Two days later, the court gathered to announce officially that the dragon had been slain and to give the major-domo the princess's hand. The steward of the royal household stood at the foot of the throne waiting for his reward. The King had not yet spoken when Tristan burst into the room and asked for the hand of the princess. "By what right do you ask for her hand?" asked the King. "As the slayer of the dragon, Your Majesty", replied Tristan. "Perhaps you are unaware that the major-domo has killed the monster?" he asked. Then Iseult broke in. "Let him explain, father, I implore you." "Let him speak, then," said the King. "Very well," said the young man, "I'll let the dragon speak for me." "The dragon is dead, young man, how can he speak?" "Look in his mouth, your majesty," Tristan said. They opened the monster's mouth and saw that his tongue was missing. "Here is the missing tongue", and Tristan showed the tongue that he had kept. And so the major-domo's trick was discovered. Rustam and the Dragon: Long, long ago, in the time of King Kai Kaus of Persia there lived a hero named Rustam. Rustam was on a journey, with his horse, Rakhsh. On the first night of their journey a lion came out of the dark with the intent of killing and eating the hero. But Rakhsh, the horse, reacted bravely and saved his master by killing the lion. When Rustam awoke and saw the lion's body he thanked Rakhsh for saving his life but told the horse to wake him up next time so as not to endanger the horse's life. The next night the dragon who guarded a spring where they were sleeping came out of hiding to kill the hero and his horse. Rakhsh woke his master who sprang up from his slumber and grabbed his sword. But the dragon slipped back into hiding and Rustam scolded his horse for waking him up for nothing. Again the dragon came out of its hiding place and again the horse woke his master, and again the dragon slipped back into hiding before Rustam saw it. This time he was really mad at his horse. The third time the dragon came out Rakhsh didn't know what to do, and it wasn't until the last second that he roused his master. Rustam woke up, furious, but this time the dragon was too close to escape and Rustam slew it. Back to the top ^ I intend no threat to any copyrights. 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