But, being a mythical creature, it also represents some alien power which poses a threat to the ‘in-group’. The dragon has always been a powerful symbol of such monstrous, barbaric forces, relying on brute force and strength to terrorise and vanquish a populace. It might represent anti-Christian forces (in the full version of the ‘St George of Merrie England’ tale, there’s no shortage of ‘Mahomedan’ villains) which George, with his red cross emblazoned on his right hand, fights back against. What does the story mean? The dragon can represent any number of things, so it makes sense not to analyse the legend as an allegory (which has a clearly defined meaning, where ‘dragon = X’) but as a story rich in suggestive symbolism which can be interpreted in a variety of ways.įor Christian readers of the St George story, especially in Victorian England when the British Empire was at its height, the dragon might represent a threat to Britain’s dominion over the earth. And it wasn’t England he saved from the dragon, but somewhere in northern Africa. But since George is thought to have been born in Cappadocia, it’s probable that he was what we’d now call Turkish, given the way national borders have shifted over the centuries.īut the version of the legend most familiar to English readers has St George born in England – he’s the son of the Earl of Coventry, in the Midlands – but such is the young George’s thirst for adventure that he’s soon riding off to other lands in search of adventure.

He is believed to have been a Greek soldier serving in the Roman army some time in the third century AD (he died in 303). Because St George was not English at all.

Of course, it makes sense that George should carry out his exploits, including his killing of the dragon, in foreign lands, despite being the patron saint of England. Myths often take time to form and coalesce into their now-familiar shapes, much as David wasn’t the original slayer of Goliath, even though that act is now attributed to him so fully that we don’t remember the name of the original champion. So, St George wasn’t the one who originally slew the dragon, and even when he did, he didn’t do so in England. George mounted Bayard, his horse, and armed with Ascalon, his sword, rode off to the Valley of the Dragon to vanquish the beast.

The last maiden alive in the land, Sabia, was due to be the dragon’s next meal the following day. This young man, who was named George, travelled to northern Africa (sometimes named as Egypt, sometimes Libya) where he learned of a fearsome dragon which devoured a maiden every single day and sent a terrible plague through the land. He then locked her up in the rock and left, taking sword and horse with him. Instead, when she offered him a magic wand that would give him power over everyone and everything in the world, he used it to open a giant rock and expose the crimes of the enchantress: all of the bodies of the newborn babies she had slaughtered. When he was a young man, he wanted to leave her behind and take off on wonderful adventures, so she tried to bribe him with horses and swords in an attempt to persuade him to stay. So instead, Kalyb let the baby live, doting on him and growing fonder of him by the day.

Origami dragon dragon story