HC SVNT DRACONES –Horntails, Short-Snouts, Welsh Greens, Fireballs, and Ironbellies...oh my!
Dragons...creatures of immense strength.
Dragons...creatures of fire.
Dragons...magical and powerful.
Dragons...creatures representing goodness and luck.
Dragons...winged beasts with serpentine or reptilian features.
Dragons...guardians of treasure.
Dragons feature prominently in literature, particularly in stories featuring heroes! As the author G.K. Chesterton stated:
"Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."
How better to demonstrate the reality of good versus evil than by having a dragon defeated by a hero!?
Or, perhaps dragons are misunderstood creatures who really just want to be left alone and have been forced into a life of violence in a desperate attempt to protect themselves from the angry villagers with pitchforks and the knights who are just out to rescue a damsel who may-or-may-not be in distress.
This series of geocaches features some of my favourite literary (and screen) dragons.
And, ok, it lets my geek side shine. Just a little. :)
Dragons. “They’re seriously misunderstood creatures”...according to Hagrid in JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. That said, they are also referred to as “enormous and vicious-looking” with “evil yellow eyes”. Perhaps, the fact that the dragons had been captured to be a part of a challenge requiring our heroes to snatch a false-egg from the dragons’ nests has something to do with the evil? Dragons in the Harry Potter world are terribly mistreated more often than not. The Gringotts' Dragon was captured, tortured to train him or her to guard treasure, and kept chained in the dungeon. I’d be feeling rather evil, too!