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Saint George and the Dragon

Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, 1984.

The story of Saint George and the Dragon is an old folktale. The story as told in this children’s picture book was adapted from Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene.

The Red Cross Knight, who carries a shield decorated with a red cross, does not know his own name or even where he came from. He only knows that the Queen of the Fairies has sent him to face a terrible dragon. He is accompanied on his journey by a princess with a little white lamb and a dwarf. The Princess’s name is Una, and her kingdom is being attacked by the dragon.

On their journey, they meet a hermit, who shows the knight a distant palace on a mountaintop, where angels travel between the palace and heaven. It’s so beautiful that the knight wants to go there immediately, but the hermit says that this palace is in another world and that he cannot go there until he faces the dragon. The hermit also reveals the knight’s past to him. He is not one of the fairy folk, although the fairy folk are the ones who sent him. The hermit knows that he was kidnapped by the fairies as a baby and hidden in a farm field, where he was discovered by a plowman who named him George. His true destiny is to become Saint George, the patron saint of England.

Una takes George to her parents’ fortress. As they approach, they see the dragon for the first time. George sends Una away from danger, and he and the dragon battle for the first time. The dragon picks up George, horse and all, and throws them to the ground. George manages to drive the dragon away, but he is also injured. At first, he and his friends think he is going to die, but he lies down in an ancient spring that cools and heals him. By morning, he is able to rise and fight again.

The second time George fights the dragon, he is able to cut off part of the dragon’s tail and one of its paws. The dragon’s fire finally drives George away, and once again, George seems too wounded to survive. However, he rests under an apple tree that drops healing dew, and George survives.

The third time George and the dragon fight, George manages to kill the dragon. Everyone celebrates, and Una’s parents thank George. The king gives George rich rewards, but George passes them on to the poor people. George is bound to the service of the Fairy Queen for six years, but the king allows George to marry Una and promises him that he will become the next king when his service is finished.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

I love the colorful illustrations in this story, although some of them seemed a bit brutal for an audience of young children, showing George badly injured and the dragon spurting blood. Because I love folklore, I know that the legend of St. George and the Dragon is a Christian allegory, although it has some basis in earlier folktales and historical figures. I’ve heard different interpretations of what the dragon is supposed to represent. It can be a symbol of evil, the devil, or sin, and I think I’ve heard that it could represent paganism, which was replaced by Christianity (represented by St. George in the story), although I can’t remember where. In a way, I think this is one of those picture book that might mean more to adults because they would understand more of the symbolism, history, and folklore references in the story. On the other hand, who doesn’t love a story that ends with a gallant knight marrying a beautiful princess?

In case you’re wondering, the red cross on St. George’s shield isn’t the red cross used by the International Red Cross. However, Saint George’s Cross is on the national flag of England and is also part of the Union Jack flag of the United Kingdom.

As another odd piece of literary trivia, the legend of St. George has a connection to another story that I’ve on this blog, Phoebe the Spy. The connection isn’t an obvious one because Phoebe the Spy was set in New York during the American Revolution, which seems far removed from Medieval England. However, on April 23, 1770 (St. George’s Day), the St. George Society (originally called the Sons of St. George) was founded at the Fraunces Tavern in New York, just six years before the story of Phoebe the Spy begins at the same tavern. The St. George Society was and still is a charitable organization that helps immigrants from Britain, using the patron saint of England as its namesake.

Posted on by TracyC

The Prince Who Knew His Fate

The Prince Who Knew His Fate by Lise Manniche, 1981.

This picture book is a retelling of an Ancient Egyptian story (sometimes called The Tale of the Doomed Prince) about a prince and a prediction regarding his death with an unknown ending. The only known original version of the story is incomplete. For this book, the author has given the story an ending.

An Egyptian king wishes for a child, but when his son is born, the seven Hathor goddesses offer a prophecy for the prince’s fate. They say that, “He is destined to be killed by a crocodile or a snake or a dog.”

The king is distressed by this prediction for his son’s fate, and he decides to protect him from it as best he can. He has a special house built for the prince, where he grows up, attended by servants and given all sorts of good things to keep him happy. The king wants his son to stay in this house, where he will be safe. 

However, as the prince gets older, he becomes more interested in the outside world. One day, he sees a man passing the house with a dog, and the prince wants a dog of his own. The king relents and allows his son to have a dog, in spite of the prophecy.

The prince further demands that his father allow him to leave the house and travel. After all, he says, if his fate is already determined, it won’t matter if his father tries to protect him from it. He says that, if he must die eventually, he might as well live his life to the fullest while he can. The king allows his son to have a chariot and to hunt and travel the Nile. Everywhere the prince goes, he brings his dog with him.

Eventually, he comes to the country of the Chief of Naharin, who only has one daughter. The chief keeps his daughter in a special house with a single window, high off the ground. He says that he will allow his daughter to marry the man who can jump up to that window. The prince manages to make the jump, and he marries the chief’s daughter.

After they are married, the prince explains to his wife the prophecy about his fate. His wife wants to kill the prince’s dog, but he refuses to allow it because he’s had the dog since it was a puppy. His wife begins to watch over him, to try to prevent him from being killed. She manages to kill the snake that comes for the prince, and the prince manages to make a deal with the crocodile, but can he truly escape his fate?

There is a section at the back of the book that explains more about the original story, which was written over 3000 years ago and is “one of the oldest fairy tales known today.” There is also some information about Ancient Egypt and the carvings that were the inspiration for the illustrations in the story.

My Reaction

I always enjoy folklore, and this story is fascinating because the original ending is unknown. The author of this book, Dr. Lise Manniche, who was a Danish Egyptologist, translated the story from the original hieroglyphics and added an ending to the story. I thought that the ending fit well enough, and I was pleased that it was a happy ending, even though it holds to the idea that the fate must be fulfilled. I also enjoyed the illustrations, based on Ancient Egyptian carvings from around the time that the story was created, and the addition of the hieroglyphs of the original story along the bottom of the pages.

I first heard about the folktale in this book in a mystery book for adults called The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters. It is part of the Amelia Peabody mystery series, about a Victorian era woman who is married to an archaeologist. Elizabeth Peters is a pen name for Barbara Mertz, who was an Egyptologist herself. Because this folktale featured prominently in that mystery novel, I was thrilled to find this version of it!