They can vanish into dark holes and reappear elsewhere, wriggling through the smallest chinks and crevices. In fact, serpents are universally seen in the world’s major mythological cycles as having particular wisdom about the secrets that lie hidden beneath the earth’s surface. Its capacity to find water is crucial to human survival in traditional societies, a function that connects it to the East Asian dragons. The Rainbow Serpent is indeed a creator-god in some Aboriginal Australian mythologies when a rainbow appears in the sky, it’s said that the Serpent is moving between water-holes. Recently it’s been suggested that the rainbow might have inspired tales of giant serpents.
Various theories have been put forward to explain the popularity of the dragon legend. They take many different forms and have varying characteristics: they can be a mild nuisance or a deadly peril they may fly and breathe fire, or creep along spouting poison. Where did the dragon myth originate, and why are dragon stories so widespread across at least two continents? Carolyne Larrington, Professor of medieval European literature at the University of Oxford, investigates.ĭragons feature in legend and folklore all across Britain, as well as Europe and Asia.
