Dragons have been playing a part in folklore and literature a LONG time, and all over the world. Perhaps the following information and references will help one of the big beasties come to life in your next campaign, or even in your dreams...

Dragons of European literature and folk tales are very much like the ones whose pictures populate the fantasy section of the local bookstore. They're big and imposing, almost always mean, and can fly with great agility. One of the more popular examples of the European-type dragon plays a part in the final scenes of the heroic epic Beowulf. This dragon has no name in the story, but can fight with the best of them. Here's his tale.

A long time ago, a great tribe of men was slaughtered by a rival clan. The one remaining survivor gathered together all of the tribe's valuables which included gold and silver, gems and weapons. This lone survivor vowed to protect his treasure from everyone until the end of time, all the while lamenting his loneliness in a desolate cave. Years passed. A slave who had recently escaped from his master stumbles upon the cave, discovers the treasure, and steals a silver chalice to buy his master's forgiveness and his freedom. But as luck would have it, his actions only awaken a huge dragon, who lays waste to the surrounding villages.

Beowulf, the aged king, hears of the wyrm and takes his warriors to battle it, but on their arrival, only Beowulf possesses the bravery to face the dragon. The dragon flies, and swoops for a fire breath attack twice, but despite the damage Beowulf has taken, he injures the beast so that it cannot fly. Wiglaf, one of the cowardly warriors, plucks up his courage and runs to aid his king, striking a fatal blow straight into the dragon's heart. Beowulf dies from his wounds, and the treasure that was won at so dear a cost is placed on his funeral pyre with him.

Some say that the "Lone Survivor" turned into the dragon after years of greed and loneliness, but some say that the dragon took over the hoard after the Survivor died. If the tale of the dragon here sounds familiar, it appears in slightly altered form in J. R. R. Tolkein's The Hobbit; the dragon, of course, is Smaug, the slave is Bilbo Baggins, and Wiglaf is Archer. (Tolkein was a scholar and teacher of Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon literature at Oxford.)

The belief that the greed and despair of the Lone Survivor turned him into a dragon leads to another European tale, that of "St. George and the Dragon." In this tale, St. George travels the countryside in search of the dragon that has been eating the locals. He meets a damsel who claims that her family has been taken captive by the dragon, and she follows him to its lair.

The wyrm in the tale and in any paintings or sculptures of the story appears small compared to St. George, and angry and vengeful. St. George defeats him, getting a little singed by his breath in the process, but quickly heals. The story, being composed primarily for religious consumption, characterizes the dragon as all of the seven deadly sins rolled into one creature: greed, sloth, lechery, gluttony, pride, envy, and anger. This also explains the smaller size of the "sin-dragon" compared to St. George's "righteousness."

On the other side of the world, dragons also appear, but in the literature and folk tales of the Orient, they are not at all evil. Dragons, or lung, are a kind of guardian spirit, with long, sinuous bodies, a large horned and whiskered head, and four short clawed legs. They didn't necessarily need wings to fly around; many are so magical that they just can. There are four main types of lung, each with different jobs. Tien Lung, the Celestial Dragon, brings the night and guards the night skies; Tsang Lung, the Treasure Dragon, watches over the hidden treasures of the earth, whether they were put there by man or not; Ti Lung, the Earth Dragon, controls the land and its constant shiftings and grumblings (Ti Lung was often the cause of earthquakes); and Shen Lung, the Rain Dragon, brings the summer storms. In the Orient, it is considered lucky to see a dragon, which is why the parades are filled with dancing dragons at the Chinese New Year's festival.

One type of Chinese dragon is particularly lucky, and it is called the Ki Rin. This dragon travels the lands finding worthy people to grant wishes to, and it is also one of the most powerful in magic. They look something like a very small scaled unicorn, usually red or orange in color. Ki Rin are something akin to The Neverending Story's Luck Dragon, but much smaller. In general, lung only briefly appear in folklore and literature of the East, but they are an important part of their cultural beliefs.

As you can see, dragons come in all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. Look into these references and others to add some interesting dimension to your campaigns and, perhaps, surprise your compatriots with your vast knowledge of the beasts.

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
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