George and the Dragon.

A couple of you have asked me privately to tell you the legend of St. George and the dragon. OK. Can do. But I know several versions of the story and am at a bit of a loss as to which one to tell, so I will divide the story up into sections, and for each section put down both of the two major variants I know of, one variant being written in normal typeface, the other in italics. Then you can choose the bits you like and construct the legend that you like best.

1. Once upon a time there was city ruled by a king who had a beautiful daughter. Near the city lived a dragon ( or in some versions a crocodile, but we'll stick with a dragon. They look better on flags and coins and such)

2. The dragon was very wealthy
the dragon built it's nest beside the town's only water supply

3. One day the king got into debt. With no other sources of revenue the king borrowed the money he needed from the dragon, taking out a mortgage on his daughter as surety.
in order to stop the dragon eating folk when they went to fetch water, the townsfolk used to feed it goats. If there were no goats handy they would use the next best thing, ie a damsel. The unlucky damsel was chosen from the supply of available village virgins by casting lots

4. A year and a day after the loan was taken out, it fell due, both capital and accrued interest. And I suppose, GST. The dragon came to collect what was rightfully his but the king's financial acumen had not improved any in the intervening 12 months and he couldn't meet his commitment. So the dragon foreclosed on the princess.
one day, as luck would have it, the lot fell to the kings daughter and she was given to the dragon.

5. The dragon took the princess away and tied her to a tree, intending to eat her later.

6. "Eek! Eek! Eeeeek!" Squealed the princess! "who will save me?"

7. George appeared, slew the dragon and saved her.
George appeared, fought the dragon and subdued it. He tied the princess's girdle around the dragon's neck and led it back into the city.

8. The townsfolk were mightily impressed and became Christians on the spot.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Comments

Anonymous said…

Any story which has a princess shouting "eek" is not likely to get my seal of approval.
Many thanks

9 February 2011 at 09:31

Lee said…

Great version of the story. Loved the GST - and I guess it would be 15% these days.

11 February 2011 at 17:24

Denis Bartley said…

Thanks. We have a stained glass window of St George in the Diocese - St Columba's, Wanaka. I will pin the story next to the window.

14 February 2011 at 22:46

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