dragons and saints

[raptor]

in the story of saint Martha and the dragon, she manages to tame it and bring it into town and the town people killed it once they realize it was harmless. what i don't get is why they make a day to honor it instead of the saint herself and why did they fell sorry after killing it?

[alondor]

you make it sound like a bad thing. The real reason is that they killed the dragon because they did not understand it. So the guilt ran up and made them feel bad.

[Drakel]

yah!
The moral to the story is that the towns ppl jugged it before giving it a chance. they killed it without understanding it at first. They feel sorry because it was their sins and their faults. they feel guilt because they wish they could take it all back. They celebrate it because they respect the fact that it was good and that it deserved to stay alive.

[vampirehunter42]

Strange thing is it reads just like St. George and the Dragon.

Well seeing the creature sunk a number of ships, destroyed a fair amount of land and was eating on someone when she showed up...... They had reason enough to fear it.

But this is just one of the "hidden" tails of the Christian fight on pagan religions. The taming of the dragon and killing it is meant to mirror the people of the town leaving their pagan beliefs and changing to Christianity.

I love the description of this creature though.

a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than an horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, and defended him with two wings on either side, and could not be beaten with cast of stones ne with other armor, and was as strong as twelve lions or bears

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/ ... martha.htm

I may have to go through that site some. Check out the other dragon slaying St.s