Dragons - Mythical, Mystical, Magical Creatures!

Dragon King’s Daughter
(Gohonzon #22, Eight Great Dragon Kings)

"Come not between the dragon and his wrath." ~ Shakespeare, King Lear

Dragons have filled our myths, legends, history and imaginations for centuries. The Scandinavians described swimming dragons and the Vikings placed dragons on the front of their ships to scare off the sea monsters. Their are myths containing dragons date back to 4000 B.C.

Marco Polo wrote of his travels to the province of Karajan and reported on huge serpents, which at the fore part have two short legs, each with three claws.

Records of the Greek historian Herodotus and the Jewish historian Josephus describe flying reptiles in ancient Egypt and Arabia, and in art, dragons appear on ancient pottery in China as late as 202 A.D.

o In some cultures dragons have major spiritual significance.
o In many Asian cultures dragons represented the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe.
o They are associated with wisdom and often said to be wiser than humans.
o They are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers.
o In some cultures they are also said to be capable of human speech

o European dragons are usually depicted as evil.
o Chinese dragons do not have wings but have very long tails. They are benevolent and can take on human form. The Imperial Dragon is the combination of four benevolent spiritual animals, the other three being the phoenix, the unicorn and the tortoise.
o Japanese dragons are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water.
o Persians believed a dragon's baby would be the same color as the mother's eyes.
o Scottish dragons have two tails.

Courtesy of :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
http://www.allaboutcreation.org/dragon-history.htm
http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/history/history.htm

STORIES

The Dragon - Italy
http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Italian_folktale_22.html

The Dragon and the Prince - Serbia
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/sfs/sfs57.htm

The Dragon and His Grandmother - Germany
https://fairytalez.com/the-devil-and-his-grandmother/ 

The Dragon of Ghent - Belgium
http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/tl/tl08.htm

The Dragon of the North - Estonia
http://www.mythfolklore.net/3043mythfolklore/reading/estonia/pages/06.htm

The Four Dragons - Asia
http://worldoftales.com/Asian_folktales/Asian_Folktale_6.html

How the Dragon Came to Be - China
https://www.pitara.com/fiction-for-kids/folktales/how-the-dragon-came-to-be/

The Lambton Worm - England
http://tinyurl.com/3krfcz7

The Golden Dragon of the Boringue on page 188 and Turk, Turban, Tulip and Dragon, page 166 both in Belgian Fairy Tales by William Elliot Griffis, 1919. To read these tales and download the  book for free go to:
https://archive.org/stream/belgianfairytale00grifiala/belgianfairytale00grifiala_djvu.txt

The Serene Dragon - This incredible site is sure to slay you! Over 544 dragon tales listed by country and region, with origins, and articles; you will be breathing fire in no time at all. Unfortunately, the site is no longer online but you may still access the pages via the Wayback Machine at this link:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050205214117/http://www.theserenedragon.net/home.html

Story-Lovers.com – As always, Jackie Baldwin is ahead of the pack, or in this case, the dragon’s lair. Books, stories and more, all related to those amazing mythical creatures. Note: Our dear Jackie crossed over a few years ago but her incredible work lives on, accessible via the Wayback Machine here: http://web.archive.org/web/20100120170730/http://www.story-lovers.com/listsdragonstories.html

BOOKS

Bookroo – Dragon books for a variety of ages.
https://bookroo.com/explore/books/topics/dragons

CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activity Village – Lots of crafts and printables.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/dragons_theme.htm

Chinese Dragon Puppet – Makes a great bookmark as well.
http://tinyurl.com/3ysk9ce

Dragon Coloring Pages 
http://www.coloring.ws/dragons1.htm

Survivor Dragon Island – From the California Summer Reading Collaborative Program http://tinyurl.com/6jsnved

CURRICULUM

Adventures with Dragons, Gods and Giants – A grade three unit connected to the Core Curriculum Standards.
https://studylib.net/doc/18517051/fantastic-adventures-with-dragons--gods--and   NEW

Dealing with Dragons
http://www.edhelper.com/books/Dealing_with_Dragons.htm

Komodo Dragons
http://www.edhelper.com/AnimalReadingComprehension_19_1.html

San Diego Zoo - The Lifestyle of the Komodo Dragon - For grades 4 – 6; facts, activities and more on this interesting and ancient creature.

https://sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/animals/komodo-dragon

http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/komodo-dragon

Meet the new Komodo dragons at the San Diego Zoo
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/11/18/komodo-dragons-san-antonio

HISTORY

Draconian.com - The history of dragons in various cultures, short legends about dragons and more.
http://www.draconian.com/whatis/whatis.htm

SONGS AND FINGERPLAYS

Dragon Fingerplays
https://www.barbertonlibrary.org/dragonfingerplays

Dragon Storytime – Songs, fingerplays, and book suggestions from the Jacksonville Public Library
http://jplmainchildrens.blogspot.com/2011/09/dragon-storytime.html

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links.  At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

 

Karen Chace 2011 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission, please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.