A History of Dragons

by Catherine Coundjeris

Jaws of a lion
talons of an eagle
neck of a snake

Dragons dwell in our subterranean memories. Peoples from all lands tell stories of such beasts, dwelling in underground lairs, giants who walked the earth, mingling with Man centuries ago, dragons destroying with fire whole villages and cities, as powerful as an erupting volcano. Heroes went forth to find and defeat them.

Jaws of a lion
talons of an eagle
neck of a snake

Those are tales of the west but, in the far east, dragons were water spirits bringing life-giving rains to their crops. Ancients mapped dragon nests and warned children not to wander. They were taught to respect the unknown and raised to revere otherness.

Now science digs up dinosaurs, pieces together petrified skeletons, analyzes fossilized footprints, declaring dragons did not exist. Except in the east, where dragon bones are used in medicines and scores of children are begotten every twelve years in honor of the dragon. Druids still walk the earth, and they yet believe in great serpents. My feelings are mixed. If these creatures lived, were they friend or foe?

Jaws of a lion
talons of an eagle
neck of a snake

Maybe there were water dragons rushing by the waves of the sea, and fire dragons roaring above us on the wings of the wind. The former submerged in the deepest bottom of the ocean; the latter burned up in spontaneous combustion. Does it matter if they had flesh and bones?

Stories of them took on teeth and wings and became immortal, spreading over the earth. Maybe just maybe they still exist grown wily through the years, hidden away in the deepest subterranean lairs or the bottom of the ocean

Careful, beyond this point, there be dragons