PS: Dragons have strong bodies, long, thick necks, horned or frilly heads, sharp teeth, and a long tail. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info, it walks with four powerful steps, flies with a pair of giant wings like batwings, and its body is covered with scales to protect its body. Its eyes have four layers of eyelids, the inner three of which are transparent to protect the eyes from damage, and ears that can be opened and closed, but not all dragons have outer ears. The teeth are sharp and sharp, usually bent inwards in order to tear apart the prey.

At this moment, several stone eggs in the storage warehouse of the Hong Kong exhibition suddenly cracked, and several small dragons came out of it.

Dragons in Western mythology

The dragon has a strong body, a long, thick neck, a horned or frilly head, sharp teeth, and a long tail. It walks with four powerful steps, flying with a pair of giant wings that resemble batwings, and its body is covered in scales to protect it. Its eyes have four layers of eyelids, the inner three of which are transparent to protect the eyes from damage, and ears that can be opened and closed, but not all dragons have outer ears. The teeth are sharp and sharp, usually bent inwards in order to tear apart the prey.

Dragons have twice as much eyesight as humans, can see in the dark, and hear about the same as humans. But it feels good and can feel invisible objects moving. Dragons can fly, walk, swim, and some can breathe in water.

Dragons become more powerful with age, with older dragons usually being invincible and younger dragons being vulnerable (by dragon standards).

Dragons do not have a tendency to live in groups, although there are occasional cases of a group of dragons. But most of the time dragons live alone. Dragons will also be happy to fight another dragon if needed.

The most common dragons are the Golden Dragon (usually the most powerful dragon species), the Black Dragon (the breath attack is strong acid), the White Dragon (the breath attack is cold), the Red Dragon (the breath attack is the dragon flame), the Blue Dragon (the breath attack is thunder and lightning), the Green Dragon (the breath attack is poison gas), the Silver Dragon, the Red Bronze Dragon, the Brass Dragon, and the Bronze Dragon. There is also a platinum dragon that is one of the forms of the gods, the dragon of all colors and none, and there is also a deep red dragon that represents the dragon of the mean.

Dragons in European culture are the result of many influences. Greek, Babylonian mythology and Christianity, Norse mythology, Celtic culture and English Saxon legends have created a rich variety of dragon images in European culture. Influenced by Greek mythology, many legends say that dragons are the keepers of treasures and treasures. Meantime. The dragon has also become a symbol of greed. Under the influence of Christian legends, the dragon became a symbol of evil.

1. Dragons from Anglo-Saxon mythology

Dragons in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon cultures are first described in the heroic narrative poem Beowulf. Beowulf is the oldest of the legends recorded in Old English. The hero, Beowulf, becomes the king of Jeat after killing the sea monster Grandel and his mother. He ruled wisely for fifty years. Another monster has appeared, a fire-breathing dragon. A fugitive slave steals a gold cup from the treasure it guards and offers it to his slave owner, hoping to repair relations with him. When the fire dragon discovers that the cup is missing, he becomes furious and rushes into the kingdom of Jeat to destroy it everywhere. Later Beowulf fought the dragon. Both sides lose.

The dragon in Beowulf is the prototype of the dragon that later appeared in European culture: hoarding and guarding treasures, curious, vindictive, and fire-breathing. Teeth contain lethal venom. The dragon in Beowulf is irrational, and its behavior is governed by its own **. The poem focuses on its emphasis on treasure. It could not speak, could not understand human language, and even looked shocked and frightened when it met Beowulf. Externally, the dragon is slender (50 feet) with sharp teeth and is capable of flight. The dragon in Beowulf inherits the negative image of Christianity and is the embodiment of Christian ideas in the poem.

2. Dragons in Celtic mythology

In the Arthurian legend, which began to circulate in the XII century. It is mentioned that King Vorvortigern wanted to build a castle, however, when it was built. The craftsmen found that walls built halfway during the day always collapsed at night. So the king summoned astrologers and sorcerers to solve his doubts. The sorcerer told the king that the blood of the virgin's son needed to be sprinkled on the ground in order for the castle to be built. The king finally found such a child, and that was Merlin. Merlin dismissed this as a lie, and told the king that there was a lake under the foundations of the castle, and that there were two sleeping dragons at the bottom of the lake. The king excavated the lake and drained the pond, and sure enough, he found a red dragon and a white dragon. At this time, the two dragons woke up and began to fight each other. The white dragon initially gained the upper hand, and the red dragon fought back, eventually driving the white dragon away. Merlin explained that the red dragon represented the Ingru nation, the son of King Fotigon, while the white dragon represented the Saxon nation. The English nation would be invaded by the Saxons first, then revolted in blood, and finally driven out the Saxons. This story was first recorded in the 9th-century Historical Britain, in which King Fotigang's territory was present-day Wales.

In Mabinogion, which may have been written earlier, there is another dragon story, Rudd and Lively Story. Lourdes was the son of King Berry of Britain and inherited the Kingdom of Britain, while his fourth brother, Lively married a French princess and became King of France. During Rudd's reign, screams of terror could be heard everywhere in Britain every May, causing men to fear, women to miscarry, children to madness, animals to die, trees to wither, and rivers to dry up. Rudd asks his brother Freilly, who tells him, "It's the cry of a dragon." This dragon is fighting an alien dragon. All you have to do is measure the land of Britain, dig a pit in the center, put in a crucible filled with mead, and seal it with satin. Two battled dragons will fall into the cauldron and fall asleep after drinking the honey. You must immediately seal the pot, bury it in a sarcophagus, and then find a strong place to bury it in the ground. This will save your kingdom from external calamities." Lourdes eventually buried the dragon in Dinasemrys, where King Fotigang later built his castle. These two dragons are the two dragons excavated by King Fotigang.

After Henry VII of the Tudor dynasty, the red dragon became his emblem, appearing in coats of arms and flags, and slowly becoming the symbol of Wales.

3. Dragons in Norse mythology

In Norse mythology, which began to take shape in the twelfth century, the famous dragons are:

Nidhogg: A poisonous dragon that hovers at the roots of the World Tree and gnaws at its roots. In Ragnarok, Nidhogg finally bites off the roots of the World Tree, one of the warning signs of the end times.

Jormungandr (also known as Midgard): The sea serpent that surrounds the human world, also known as the world snake. Umungande is the second child of Loki and Angrboda (The Body of Wrath). Odin threw it into the sea, and Yumengand grew until it ate its tail. Thor once traveled to Utgard, the land of the frost giants, and when Utgard-Loki, the king of Utgard, tried to raise a cat with Thor, Thor only lifted one of the cat's feet. Later, Roki tells Thor that the cat is actually the world snake Yumengand. Later, while hunting with the giant Hymir, Thor tried to kill Eumongonder to get rid of the evil. Thor fished Yumengand with the head of a bull, but Simir, frightened by its massive size, cut the line, allowing Yumengande to escape. In the twilight of the gods, Yumengander struggled through the sea, breaking the cable of Naglfar, the ship of fate. Roki and the Fire Giant sail aboard a ship to Vigrid, the final battlefield. In the final battle, Thor kills Yumongand with a hammer, but the venom spat out by the latter also poisons Thor to death.

Fafnir: Originally the eldest son of Hreidmar, the ruler of the dwarf kingdom, he killed his father and drove his brother away due to greed for cursed treasures, and finally turned into a poisonous dragon and was killed by Sigurd.

4. Dragons in Slavic mythology

In Slavic mythology, there are mythical creatures similar to dragons in Greco-Roman-Christian cultures. Dragons in Russian legend or mythology are called "3men" and often have three heads (or multiples of three). In some stories, if you don't cut off all the dragon's heads, the severed heads will grow back. The image of a famous dragon in Russian legend is the three-headed fire-breathing dragon Gorinich (English: zmeygorynych) (Russian: 3men Гopыhыч). It was eventually taken by the legendary strong man Dobrenia. Nikitić (Дo6pы?hrhnkn?tnч) killed.

In southern regions, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the image of the dragon is divided into two types. One is the same name as the legendary Russian dragon, but the image is different, usually male, possessing superhuman intelligence, knowledge and wealth, a large and strong body, good at magic, and a great covet for the beauty of a human woman. They are good at courting human women, and can have offspring with them. Dragons are often considered objects of reverence, and many national heroes are depicted in folk tales as dragons or descendants of dragons. The other dragon is usually female, a sister of the former dragon, but in the opposite form, similar to the dragon in Greco-Roman-Christian cultures, and is often the exact opposite of its own brother, the embodiment of evil hiding in the dark. The female dragon often represents bad weather and destroys the crops, while the male dragon is the patron saint of the crops. (To be continued.) )