The Penguin Book of Dragons

by The Penguin Book of Dragons (retail) (epub)

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  In the year of Our Lord 1345, when Clement VI was pope and while Elion of Villanova, Grand Master of the Order, still lived, a memorable incident occurred which has awed the succeeding generations.3 There was on the Isle of Rhodes, not far from the Church of Saint Stephen, a large cliff in which there was an extensive underground cavern with a stream trickling forth. In this cavern a dragon had made its nest; it was a horrid monster indeed, huge and terrifying to look upon. Not only had it preyed upon men and beast in great numbers alike all over the eastern part of the island with unspeakable savagery and rapaciousness, but it was corrupting the very air with its virulent breath. For this reason, no one was able without obvious danger to his life to approach the entrance to the dragon’s lair. The Grand Master instituted by public proclamation a ban on the attempt of anyone, whatever their condition or status, to go near the place. The prohibition applied even to knights, who risked death or the revocation of their knightly status should they defy it. From this a well-deserved name had remained for the place: Malpasso.4 There was at that time a knight living in Rhodes, who was a most noble youth endowed with great strength both of spirit and body. His name was Francisco Deodato of Gozon, for he had been born at Gascony. He deemed it a disgrace that no one, even from so many courageous soldiers and knights which lived nearby, had dared to oppose the monster. Prompted not only by a desire to do a great deed, but also by an infatuation with acquiring an immortal name for himself, the young knight perceived that there never had been a more suitable occasion to rid his homeland of the reputation for cowardice that it was acquiring by reason of its submission to the monstrous beast. And so, he set out to provoke a heretofore unheard-of battle with this horrifying, raging monster, from whose multitude of oppressive evils he would liberate the island. He considered this undertaking with such single-mindedness that he seemed unable to sleep either day or night; until, at last, he figured out how to put his plan into action. What concerned him most was how he could achieve his intentions without anyone noticing or guessing what was in his thoughts, for he greatly feared the capital punishment of the Grand Master’s edict. And so, he went about it in this way: first, from the vantage point of a hidden spot, he observed the form and nature of the monster’s body, and the colors of its hide.

  And this was the form of the dragon. It had a head shaped like that of a large horse, but it was wide like a cow’s head. The head was scaled like a snake’s and it was situated at the end of a long neck. It was known to have elongated ears like those of a mule. Its horrific gaping mouth was outfitted with massive teeth; it had oversized eyes, breath which burned like fire, and four feet with claws like those of a bear. Its tail and other hind parts were similar to those of a crocodile. The entire body was well-protected by an extremely tough hide of overlapping scales; it had two membranous wings; and its long sides were in color similar to that of dolphin fins: it was blue on its back, and its underside was a golden-yellow, while the remainder of the body was tinted with a mixture of these two colors. It behaved in a frenzied and excited manner, so much so that no horse could equal its speed, however fast it went in its attempt to outrun it. The monster seemed partly to fly and partly to go about on its feet. As it went about in search of food, its scaly hide gave off a rattling noise and the monster itself emitted an awful hiss that could be heard for miles around. By this alone, it could cause one to faint or even to die outright from sheer terror.

  Once he had observed the dragon, the young knight immediately sought permission from the Grand Master to go out into the countryside, using the excuse of the necessity of taking care of household affairs. Without delay, he began to construct a model of the dragon from paper and hemp-cloth, equal in size and form to the real dragon and having the same variety and arrangement of pigmentation. He also bought a horse bred specifically for battle and likewise two very powerful mastiffs. He then ordered his servants to put on the model of the dragon and to move its limbs from the inside. Thus the dragon model was able to move forward, open its horrid mouth by the use of ropes, and flick its tail this way and that. This marvelous spectacle in the likeness of the living dragon was complete, moreover, with flapping wings. Deodato goaded both his horse and his dogs against the dragon with a simulated attack. And after he had engaged in this exercise for six months, the horse and the dogs were prepared for any effort and gripped by such a fierce desire for combat that they were scarcely able to be restrained, once they had caught sight of the dragon model. Now certain of a successful outcome to his dragon-battle, Deodato ended the shadow-fighting and without further delay made haste to Rhodes with his horse, servants, and dogs.

  As soon as he had arrived at Rhodes, Deodato, recognizing that he must put his designs into effect as soon as possible, arrayed himself in a suit of armor of the better kind and armed himself with a stout lance and a sword most suitable for battle. He commended himself to God, to Saint Stephen, and to John the Baptist at the Church of Saint Stephen’s, not far from the dragon’s lair. Having done so, he went forward to the cave of the deadly monster. He made sure that his servants were armed and admonished them to climb a cliff nearby in order to observe the fight. This was so that, should the outcome be that he lived and the dragon was killed, they could run to his aid with the medicines he had already prepared for them; or, if he was killed and the dragon was still alive, they could flee for their lives by a pre-appointed route. Once he had given them these instructions, Deodato went before the dragon’s cave with courageous resolve. And just as it seemed that nothing might happen, the ferocious monster came at him from the depths of its lair, its wild shrieking, horrid hissing, and the rattling of its scales all unnerving the horse. Deodato went forward to a level spot suitable for fighting to await the monster’s charge. The dragon, thinking that it had espied easy prey, at last charged, half-flying, half-running. The dogs and the horse, not at all fearing the sight of their opponent, attacked in the manner in which they had been for so long accustomed and trained. The knight, brandishing his lance, charged and with great strength impaled the tough, scaly hide of the dragon. He then withdrew his weapon from where he had lodged it and the dragon was thus deprived of the sense of safety imparted by its hard outer armor. It was marvelous to behold! The dogs tormented the beast by chewing off its genitals, and because the dragon was occupied with defending itself against the dogs, it was forced to desist from fighting the knight. The knight was still armed with his sword and shield, and believed it to be easier at this point to fight on foot. The monster turned toward him and stood on its hind feet. While standing up, it attacked with its forepaws, using its right paw to assail the knight with its fearsome claws, and its left his shield. The knight then discerned the softer part of the dragon’s neck and drove his sword into it. An enormous outpouring of blood flowed forth. With the dragon thus vexed by pain and driven into a blind rage, the knight moved himself close enough to his opponent to drive his sword all the way through its entrails, until the thrashing motions of the dragon caused the hard blade to open its underside up all the way to its throat. Once this had happened, the monster, weakened by the huge loss of blood, threw its entire mass upon the knight as it fell. The knight, now exhausted by his labors in the terrible struggle and poisoned, moreover, by a massive dose of the hellish toxin that the beast had exhaled from its open body, was now rendered nearly lifeless. The servants saw this and recalled the orders he had given. They came down from the cliff at once and flew to his aid. Dragging Deodato away from the beast, they discerned some faint signs of life in him. They then brought cold water from a nearby stream in buckets and poured it continually over his entire body until he began to revive and his heart began to beat once more.

  When Deodato felt that his powers had returned to him, he straightaway mounted his horse and returned to the city. He told the story of the deed and how he had accomplished his glorious victory exactly as it had happened to the Grand Master. And while he was hoping for great g
lory and payment for a deed which was of such goodly benefit to the public, however illegal it may have been, he instead was forced to endure the opposite kind of reward. The Grand Master convened a council and by public censure had the knight cast into the most miserable prison for his insolence and presumptuous audacity in violating the inalterable edict. This, the Grand Master reasoned, would make a public example to knights in general. But when the news of the dragon’s demise spread throughout the island, the stout-hearted determination of the knight elicited nothing but applause. And from an island now liberated from the dire calamity with which the unvanquished monster had afflicted it, great gratitude now arose. The island resounded with praises for the knight, which at last induced a consideration of his merits and led to his freedom and the restoration of his title. Not only that, he was subsequently promoted to the highest grades of the worthy Order of the Masters. Since he had been promoted to that level by virtue of his own prudence, he published accounts of his undertaking, showing the excellence of his judgment. As a result, he was eventually chosen as the successor of the Grand Master by a unanimous election, once Elion of Villanova had retired. Even today these laudatory inscriptions can be publicly seen, which were written by Jerome of Meggisero, whose pictorial rendering bore witness to the event: “Sir Deodato of Gozon, Slayer of the Dragon, Master of Province III. The Dragon was slain before He acted as Magistrate.” The other, also inscribed under the same depiction, reads: “Sir Francisco Deodato of Gozon: here he valiantly slew a dreadful serpent of great size, which was devouring the inhabitants of Rhodes. Thereafter, he was elected Master in the year of Our Lord 1349.”

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  And because those who scoff will require more than one factual account to be convinced, I shall here add others no less worthy of amazement . . . We corresponded with the worthy gentleman Christopher Schorer, prefect of Lucerne, in order to confirm the veracity of these accounts. He affirmed that not only were these things entirely true according to reports that he had received, but he had seen with his own eyes the truth of the matter: “During the year 1619, as I was contemplating the serenity of the night sky, to my great astonishment I saw a brightly glowing dragon fly from a large mountain cliff (which is commonly called Mount Pilatus) to another cave on the opposite cliffside (commonly called the Flue Cave) with a swift flapping of its wings.5 Its body was quite large; it had a long tail and an extended neck, while its head displayed the toothsome mouth of a snake. As the creature was in the midst of flight, it spewed out sparks from its body, not unlike the embers which fly when smiths beat glowing iron. It was after I had observed all of the details that I knew it rightly to be a dragon from its bodily motions, by which I could discern the arrangement of its limbs. I write this to Your Reverence, lest you doubt that dragons truly exist in Nature.” This same gentleman also wrote to us as we were still writing this work and his letters stated that he had found “something similar concerning a certain local hunter by the name of Paul Schumperlin. In 1654, around the time of the Feast of Saint James, Paul Schumperlin was hunting around the base of Mount Flue, where he ran into a dragon next to the mouth of a cave in which it was making its lair. It had a snake-like head, a neck and tail of equal length, and it walked on all fours about a foot or more off of the ground. Its entire body was covered with scales, and it was mottled with both grey and whitish-yellow spots. The formation of its head was not dissimilar to that of a horse. When it caught sight of the hunter, it retreated into its cave with a great rattling of its scales. In 1602, a skeleton of a dragon was found in another mountain cave, commonly called Mountain Staffelwand, near Mount Flue. It had been killed when the cave collapsed during an earthquake.” These things were related to us by correspondence with the aforementioned gentleman Christopher Schorer.

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  Here I shall now add another account . . . I would hardly have believed it, had I not been persuaded of its truth by so many personal testimonies and indeed by the surviving public devotion in the Church of Saint Leodegar at Lucerne, which serves as a witness to the affair. The events occurred as follows. There was a man named Victor living in the Swiss city of Lucerne. One day, while he was looking for material to make traps in remote areas of the Alpine forests and hills, he became hopelessly lost in the labyrinthine pathways of the trackless wilderness. He did not know how he might find his way back and he wandered in all directions for the greater part of the night. He made his way in the semi-somnolent state induced by pure exhaustion. Because of the lack of light, he did not see the mouth of a pit gaping before him and so he fell right into it. But because of the soft mud which had accumulated at the bottom of the pit, he suffered no injury. His mind, however, was torn by anxiety born of the certainty of his imminent destruction. For when he looked up, he saw that the depth of the pit was such that it would be impossible for him to climb out of it (the pit was circular in shape, and its walls were sheer all the way around). Despairing of ever being rescued, Victor turned his entire mind toward seeking divine assistance, soliciting both God and His mother with continual prayers and petitions, that they might free him from so miserable a situation. Yet it pleased His Divine Majesty to afflict him further, in order that he could accumulate merits. In the sides of the pit were passageways of substantial length and width. Victor entered one, hoping to find a comfortable resting place, when to his horror he found his way blocked by two hideous dragons. Frightened half out of his wits, he attempted to retreat to the muddy pit, pleading all the while in the midst of a great outpouring of tears that God and His mother defend him against such terrifying monsters. But the dragons, wrapping their tails and long necks around him, did him neither harm nor violence. It would be easier to imagine just what despair this man experienced, being in the company of such frightful and bizarre creatures, than it would be to describe it. You would have seen the prophet Daniel all over again, except that he was in a pit of dragons rather than lions.6 But Victor remained there, not for one day or even for a week, but for six whole months, from the sixth of November all the way to the tenth of April. And how do you suppose that he was able to eat during this time? Listen, and be astounded. He observed that the dragons ate no other food throughout the winter season except a salty liquid dripping from the walls of the pit. And so, inasmuch as he was bereft of everything necessary to survive, he followed the example of the dragons. He set about licking and lapping up the liquid himself, and thus revived by this sort of food, he was able to live for half a year. At the equinox, when he felt the air to grow a little warmer, the monsters also seemed to feel that the time was at hand for them to come out of their underground lairs to look for food.7 One of them swiftly flew upward from the muddy pit ahead of the other with a great flapping of his wings; and when the second dragon began the same ascent, Victor, seeing that this was his best chance for freedom, seized the tail of the beast and was carried away from the pit. Never was there a more marvelous sight! And once the dragons had set him down, he found, by the providence of God, a path back to Lucerne. When he came to his family, who had believed him long dead, they were utterly speechless at the account he gave of what had happened to him. It was, they decided, the most frightening experience imaginable. And because he had obtained his liberation from so horrendous a situation by the intercession of the Great Mother of God, Victor wished there to be a testament to his ordeal. And so he ordered that, as a witness to the matter for the wonder of future generations, the story of his experience be depicted by the art of needlework on a newly sewn article of priestly garb called a chasuble. It survives to this day in the Church of Saint Leodegar at Lucerne, where it is shown to foreigners. Victor himself was taken into the bosom of God for he was no longer able to take ordinary food because of the damage done to his stomach and two months after he had escaped from the pit of the dragons, he died piously in the Lord.

  Many things contained in this history far exceed the powers of nature, for which reason it must be admitte
d that Victor’s life was maintained supernaturally in so horrific an abyss. Anyone can easily surmise from this account and from others like it that the descriptions of winged dragons among various writers are accurate. And now, so that the reader’s curiosity does not go unsatisfied, we shall explain the origin of dragons, and how they come into being.

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  How and in what kind of environment dragons come into being is a matter of no small wonder. And since no written account has yet been found that provides a treatment of this subject, we have set about here to explain the means of dragon reproduction to the extent that our relative ignorance permits.

  All doctors and physiologists know that hybrid species of animals are engendered by a mixture of more than one kind of sperm. This is the case in animal species, whose representatives are complete organisms in and of themselves, such as mules, mountain antelopes, cameleopards, and other hybrid species. This also occurs in human fetuses formed from more than one kind of sperm in the womb of either a wild beast or a human female. Many examples of these monsters, such as the anthropomorphs in the accounts of Lycostenis, have been documented.8 This process most especially occurs among insects, whose remarkable metamorphoses have been sufficiently described. A good example is the bee, which is born from cattle manure. It is undeniable upon close examination that the bee’s head replicates exactly that of a cow. This is also the case for the horned head of the scarab beetle, whose head is not at all dissimilar to that of the horse from whose manure they are born. And then there is the stag beetle, which is sometimes called a goat-deer (Tragelaphus) because of its resemblance to the horned stag, whose manure engenders it. In fact, the feces of animals invariably generate some kind of insect showing a resemblance to the very animal in whose excrement they have been born. If the insect does not resemble the animal in its entirety, it at least resembles it in some anatomical detail. We have described this in greater detail elsewhere. And now that we have given this preliminary explanation, we shall say in a few words how dragons can come into being in remote mountain caves and in desert places.