Wikipedia: “Saint George and the Dragon.” There are a couple of reasons for this post. First + foremost, today, December 23rd, is the date memorializing this legend. Second, there have been many “Georges” in my own lineage, + I am one of them—though I am usually recognized by my nickname “Sandy.” Third, I chose a dragon motif for all 3 of the climate fiction or cli-fi novels that comprise A Trilogy of Dragons, as a minor narrative line by which I try to insert the word “dragon” in most chapters. But my dragons are not fantasy elements—there are no fantasy elements in my books—but rather metaphors for the climate cataclysms threatening us all. This explains the weather vane depicting Saint George & the Dragon on top of Dragonfly Inn in all 3 novels—in case you were wondering.
So—to the story. “Saint George and the Dragon is a legend in which Saint George—a soldier venerated in Christianity—defeats a dragon.” An evil beast in a cave was extorting tribute of “livestock + trinkets” until the villagers instead began offering up human sacrifices; the princess herself was finally chosen. As she fearfully approached the cave our heroic George encountered her + asked why she was crying. “The princess told the saint about the dragon’s atrocities and asked him to flee immediately, in fear that he might be killed too. But the saint refused to flee, slew the dragon, and rescued the princess.” The pre-Christian origins include Jason and Medea, Perseus and Andromeda, Typhon, + others. Originally the tale was attached to other saints, + “particularly attributed to Saint Theodore Tiro in the 9th and 10th centuries…[then] first transferred to Saint George in the 11th century. Honored on this day historically perhaps, but dating back through multiple permutations over millennia.
