Dragons

ABC Wednesday
February 2nd, 2017

The letter is D for Dragon

"The Dragons of the mountains have scales of a golden color, and in length excel those of the plain, and they have bushy beards, which also are of a golden hue;  and their eye is sunk deep under the eyebrow and emits a terrible and ruthless glance."

Greek scholar Philostratus (cAD 170-245)

This is a Chinese New Year Dragon, parading in the streets 

in all his fiery glory.

A dragon is a mythological representation of a reptile.

In antiquity dragons were mostly envisaged as serpents

but since the Middle Ages they have grown legs

and now resemble a lizard.

And they are able to emit fire from their mouths,

as many a mythical hero has found out!

Different cultures have different stories about monsters

that have been grouped together under the dragon label.

They are often revered as representative of the primal forces

 of nature, religion and the universe

and possess some form of magic or other supernatural power.

The Dragon has not been forgotten by the poets......

Here is J.R.R. Tolkins take on dragons

as expressed through Tom Bombadil

There was an old dragon under gray stone;

his red eyes blinked as he lay alone.

His joy was dead and his youth spent,

he was knobbed and wrinkled,

and his limbs bent in the long years to his gold chained;

in his heart's furnace the fire waned.

To his belly's slime gems stuck thick,

silver and gold he would snuff and lick:

he knew the place of the least ring

beneath the shadow of his black wing.

Of thieves he thought on his hard bed,

and dreamed that on their flesh he fed'

their bones-crushed, and their blood drunk:

his ears dropped and his breath sank.

Mail-rings rang.  He heard them not.

A voice echoed in his deep grot:

a young warrior with a bright sword

called him forth to defend his hoard.

His teeth were knives, and on horn his hide,

but iron tore him, and his flame died.

Then, of course, there is Ogden Nash's version of a Dragon

Belinda lived in a little white house/with a little black kitten and a little gray mouse/and a little yellow dog and a little red wagon, and a realio, trulio,little pet dragon.

Now the name of the little black kitten was ink,/and the little gray mouse, she called her Blink,
and the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard/ 
but the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.

Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth; and spikes on top of him and scales underneath/
Mouth like a fireplace,chimney for a nose,/and realio, trulio, daggers on his toes.

Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears/and Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs/
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage/But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful/ Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival./They all sat laughing in the little red wagon/ at the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.

Belinda giggled till she shook the house/and Blink said Week! which is giggling for a mouse./Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,/ When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound/and Mustard growled,and they all looked around./
Meowch! cried Ink, and Ooh! cried Belinda/ For there was a pirate climbing in the winda.

Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,/and he held in his teeth a cutlass bright/his beard was black, one leg was wood/it was clear that the pirate meant no good.

Belinda paled and she cried,Help! Help!/but Mustard fled with a terrified yelp / Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household/    and the little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.

But up jumped Custard, snorting like an engine/Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon./With a clatter and a clack and a jangling squirm/He went at the pirate like a Robin at a Worm.

The pirate gaped at Belinda's dragon. and gulped some grog from his pocket flagon./ He fired two bullets, but they didn't hit/and Custard gobbled him, every bit.

Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him/No one mourned for his pirate victim. |Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate/ around the dragon that ate the pyrate.

But presently up spoke little dog Mustard./I'd been twice as brave if I hadn't been flustered/ And up spoke Ink and up spoke Blink/ We'd have been three times as brave, we think../And Custard said, I quite agree/That everybody else is braver than me.

Belinda still lives in her little white house/with her little black kitten and her little gray mouse, /and her little yellow dog and her little red wagon, and her realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears/and Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs/Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage/But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage.

And there is Puff, the Magic Dragon, but we all know about him
so will leave him for another time.

And Silverstein's.....

More Ds here at ABC Wednesday
with many thanks to all who labour at this meme,
and make it possible to go on, and on, and on....