Great Book of Dragon Legends

THE LEGEND OF SAINT JORDI

Spain

This story was told to me by a dragon from Catalonia; it tells about the origins of the celebrations in honor of the brave patron saint of this land, Saint Jordi. Remember: Some dragons are really obnoxious! You are about to meet one of them...

A long time ago, in a small Spanish town (I don’t know the exact name because every time someone tells this story, they give it a different name!) lived a ferocious dragon. It didn’t spit fire, but it entertained itself by scaring everybody and would poison the air with its stinky breath!

The dragon also demanded to eat two people every day, one for lunch and one for dinner! The inhabitants of the town were reluctant about the prospect of ending up in the dragon’s belly, but they had no choice but to select two poor souls every morning (a little bit like what happens with tests at school!).

Jordi went up to the dragon and without hesitation pierced it with his long spear. The dragon fell to the ground—it couldn’t harm anyone anymore.

The princess was safe! Hooray! Actually, everybody was safe! Finally free from that terrible nightmare, the people in the town were able to come out of their houses to celebrate their hero.

In the meantime, something magical happened: A rosebush sprouted from the dragon’s blood drops. No one had ever seen such bright red roses with such a wonderful scent! Jordi picked one up and gave it to the princess.

From that day on, every year lovers have been exchanging red roses during the patron saint celebrations. Isn’t this is a beautiful tradition?

THE LEGEND OF CUCA

Portugal

I’m about to introduce you to Cuca, a female dragon from Portugal.

She is very famous, and there are many stories about her, but this is one of my dragon friend’s favorites (my friend tells me this story all the time…I swear!).

Many years ago (so many that I can’t even count them) in Portugal, there lived a female dragon that terrorized the villagers. She was ferocious, and everybody was afraid of her, until one day a valiant knight—who later became a saint—decided to challenge her; his name was George (he’s famous for having defeated several dragons!). Saint George was fearless and succeeded in hurting Cuca’s ear, thus removing all her strength.

Even today, the inhabitants of the Portuguese town of Monção celebrate that day by recreating the battle between the dragon and the knight (both played by really talented actors wearing costumes!).

If during the show Cuca spooks Saint George’s horse, then that year’s harvest won’t be good. If, instead, the knight chases the dragon away, the harvest will be plentiful.

The king immediately started the search for an orphan, and he finally summoned a boy to talk with him about his fate. According to the legend, the boy was actually the famous Merlin (the powerful wizard from the legend of King Arthur), although no one is sure of that.

The boy surprised everyone when he revealed the cause of the repeated collapsing of the walls. (How did he know? I think he really was a wizard!) The culprits were a white dragon and a red dragon that were buried beneath the foundations of the castle. Every night the two fought incessantly, causing the walls of the castle to crumble!

The red dragon, called Y Ddraig Goch, represented the Britons, while the white dragon represented the Saxons. As it so happened, these two populations were not getting along with each other (just like the two dragons!).

Instead of sacrificing the boy, Vortigern decided to trust him and let him go. Then he freed the two dragons and let them continue their fight above ground.

After a long battle, Y Ddraig Goch prevailed and then disappeared forever, and the king was finally able to complete the reconstruction of his castle.

This story became so popular that, a few years later, the Welsh king Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon ordered an image of the red dragon to appear on the flag of his kingdom!

THE LEGEND OF SAINT GIULIO AND THE DRAGON

Italy

This is one of the stories I know best, from a dragon from Italy that tells it to me all the time. It is about a brave man wearing a very special cloak…

Many centuries ago, two brothers, Giulio and Giuliano, decided to begin a special journey. They asked permission from the emperor (who was very happy to allow it!) because they had a plan: to spread their religion across the whole of Italy. But that’s not all! They wanted to build a church in every place they went (quite a big undertaking!).

Their journey was very long and full of obstacles, encounters, and accidents. Luckily the two brothers didn’t give up and continued traveling until they reached the banks of Lake Orta, located in the forests of northern Italy, in the mountains. The view from there was stunning, and Giulio had an idea…

The magical ring turned Fafnir into a terrifying and wicked dragon, greedy about gold, jewels, and treasures. Blinded by folly, he stole all of them from his father, including an enchanted helmet that had the power to terrorize and send enemies away.

The ferocious dragon took the treasure to a dark and mysterious cave hidden in the woods and never parted from it; the creature was ready to protect it at all costs and by any means necessary. And nobody, anyway, would have been able to defeat it!

One day Siegfried, a brave warrior, showed up and challenged the dragon.