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Week 14 Reading Notes: Lang's European Fairy Tales Unit I, Part A: "How the Dragon was Tricked"

(Greek Dragon from Dragon Types)

  • "How the Dragon was Tricked"
    • Greek dragon story
    • tells the story of a clever and handsome young man
      • so handsome that his older brother is jealous
        • older brother ties the youth to a tree in hopes that he will starve to death
        • an old man (with a humped back) driving his flock of sheep passes by the tree  and asks why the youth is tied to it
          • tells him he was tied to the tree to straighten out his back
          • tells the old man he will do the same for him is he unties him
          • the old man unties him and the youth quickly ties the old man to the tree and runs off with his sheep
          • meets a horse boy and a driver of oxen on the road and persuades them to go on adventures with him
    • this sets off a series of events in which the youth becomes ever cleverer 
      • eventually, the king hears of the youth's exploits and wants to meet him
      • the youth meets the king and the king threatens death because he has broken the law with all of his pranks and tricks
      • orders the youth to retrieve a flying horse from the dragon
      • the youth says it is easily done
    • youth sets off to get the flying horse
      • tries to lead the horse off 3 times, each time the horse neighs so loud it wakes the dragon
        • the 3rd time the dragon is angry and comes to whip the horse for making noise and waking him up
        • the horse is angered by this so it does not protest the next time the youth tries to lead it off
    • the king says the flying horse is not enough and orders the youth to retrieve the bed covers (with little bells attached) from the dragon's bed
      • the boy tries to pull the covers from the bed with a chain through the ceiling but the bells ring and wake the dragon up
      • the dragon thinks his wife has pulled off the bed covers and pulls them back onto the bed
        • this makes the youth fall into the room
        • the dragon grabs him
        • tells the wife to cook him so that they may eat him when the dragon returns from church
      • while the dragon is gone the youth overpowers the dragoness and kills her, puts her in the oven to cook like she was going to do to him
      • returns to the king with the bed covering with the bells
      • king still says this is not enough and tells the boy to bring him the dragon itself
    • the boy says he can do it but must be given 2 years to do so
      • 2 years so that he can grow his beard enough to be unrecognizable 
        • king agrees to this timeline
      • when the 2 years have elapsed the boy switches clothes with a beggar to further his disguise and goes to find the dragon
      • when he reaches the dragon's house the dragon is outside building a large box
      • the boy disguised as the beggar asks if the dragon has any bread to spare
        • the dragon says to wait until he finishes the box then he will see what he has to spare
      • the beggar (the youth) begins to ask the dragon questions about the box
        • the dragon explains that the box is to catch the youth who killed his wife
      • the beggar says the box is not big enough because the youth is a large man
        • the dragon says the box is big enough to fit even himself and climbs in to demonstrate
        • the clever youth quickly closes the lid and pretends to be testing its durability
        • the dragon says the lid will hold and to let him out
        • but the youth nails the lid shut and takes the box with the dragon in it to the king
      • the king opens the lid of the box slightly to get a look at the dragon
        • it is said that he only opened it a little, being careful not to open it enough for the dragon to escape
        • but the lid is open enough for the dragon to get his mouth through, the dragon eats the king
    • the clever youth marries the king's daughter and rules over the land
  • Storytelling notes: I am not sure what I want to do with this story yet but I may gender flip the hero or change the perspective of the story to that of the dragon. I always like turning stories around to the other point of view.
  • Bibliography: The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (1897)




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