This week: Dragons Edited by: Annette  
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"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 (c. AD 170-245) |
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Dragons
Legends and folktales have imbued dragons with magical powers. Flame breathing, flying, eternal life, invulnerability and more are the hallmarks of fiction dragons. To European biologists of the Middle Ages, dragons belonged to the same group of creatures as snakes and lizards. In China, scholars classified dragons among the 369 scaled animal species. All of this is logical when we realize that those people were dealing with fossils well before paleontology was developed.
Even with the knowledge of dinosaurs, people love to cling to the dragon stories of old. Klagenfurt, a town in Austria has a Lindwurm or Lindworm statue that dates back to 1582. The story goes that the Lindwurm was haunting a nearby marsh where it ate people and livestock. The king ordered knights to slay the dragon. They even brought back its head. Which is really a fossilized head of an Ice Age wooly rhinoceros.
To quench European and Middle Eastern thirst for dragon's blood, Arab merchants collected resin from the dragon blood tree. It's really a palm tree that grows on the Socotra Islands. Pliny the Elder said dragon's blood was formed when dragon attacked elephants and their blood ran together.
According to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, traditional Chinese medicine still uses dragon bones to treat madness, diarrhea, dysentery, and more. Powders and bone fragments come from China's famous fossil beds that contain fossilized mammal bones.
Whatever you personally think about dragons, you should have one or two in some of your fantasy stories. As John Lennon said, "I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind." Take that freedom and run with it in your stories. Make those dragons all that you want them to be. And if anyone questions your dragon, point them to medieval biologists. The existence of dragons has been thoroughly documented. You're not making anything up.
Is it really that simple? All we need is a dragon or two and it's fantasy? |
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I got these replies to my last Fantasy newsletter "Dances" that asked How do your fantasy characters dance during celebrations?
brom21  wrote: I do not dance and I never will. lol. As you stated, dancing is an ancient act that has evolved to mixed forms that come from different regions blending the art. Dancing is in the Bible and I can specifically name King David who did a dance to worship God and express joy. Modern dancing is quite weird to me. But some are very innovative and unique like break dancing-spinning on the ground and doing flips and so forth. Thanks for the NL!
Flips and spinning on the ground are a skill. I don't have that either. LOL
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Fantasy: January 04, 2023 Issue [#11732]
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