CHAPTER XVII NOTES
[37.1] Pausanias, ix. 26. Nor are the cases of Herakles and Kleostratos the only cases in antiquity of what I may call combat with a dragon from the inside. In the Vatican Museum is a beautiful Attic vase found at Caere, and probably imported into Etruria in the fifth century before Christ, which contains a representation of Jason vomited forth from the dragon’s maw. The hero is identified by name; and the Golden Fleece hangs on a tree in the background; while Athene, with owl and spear and Gorgon’s head, superintends the operation. The scene is reproduced by Roscher, Lexikon, s.v. Jason. This version of the story does not seem to have found its way into literature: a sample of the endless number of variants of the classical stories which have perished, or only lived on in tradition to give us at the end of the nineteenth century the chance of recovering them as märchen from the mouths of the peasantry, ere they be finally swept away by the deluge of modern civilisation.
[38.1] Budge, Saint George, xxxii. Yet the very arm that slew the dragon is preserved at Venice (Graf, ii. Roma, 30 note), and the cave which was the dragon’s lair is shown at Beyrout! Bérenger-Féraud, Superstitions, 216, citing Thévenot.
[40.1] Leg. Aur., lviii.
[41.1] Rudder, 461 note, prints the notice from a MS. of the time of Henry VI. I have reproduced it verbatim et literatim in County F.L., Gloucestershire, 48.
[43.1] Dr. Krauss, in ix. Archivio, 484, translating a Bosnian ballad obtained by him from the mouth of an orthodox peasant at Vukasovci.
[43.2] Denton, 309; Ralston, Russian F.T., 347.
[44.1] Georgeakis, 256.
[44.2] G. Ragusa-Moleti, in x. Archivio, 420.
[45.1] Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, 301. The whole essay on Saint George ought to be read as an important contribution to the subject; though the sun-myth, by which the author explains the legend, is now as thoroughly exploded as Dr. Heylin’s identification, which he combats, of the saint with the Arian bishop of Alexandria. Mr. Budge, however, says: “The Coptic text shows us clearly that the dragon which George fought and overcame was none other than the impious Dadianus, and it proves, if further proof is needed, that George the martyr and George, the opponent of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, were two distinct persons; the fact being that Athanasius the Bishop has been confused with Athanasius the sorcerer, whom George the martyr overcame.” Budge, Saint George, xxxi. Mr. Baring-Gould, moreover, is certainly wrong in saying: “Hospinian, relating the sufferings of the martyr, affirms distinctly that his constancy was the occasion of the creation of the legend by Voragine.” Any affirmation by Hospinian on the subject would, of course, be of very little value; but all he says is that the saint’s fortitude and unshaken constancy gave occasion to the story, as it is to be read in Jacob à Voragine and Peter de Natalibus. His own interpretation is that the tale is a form under which the ancients figured the redemption of the human race. Thus, George is Christ, the Dragon is the Devil, the citizens of Silea (sic) are an image of the whole human race, a prey to the Devil, from whom the only power that can deliver them is Christ, for which we owe Him everlasting thanks and worship, etc., etc. De Festis Christianorum, sub die 23rd April. Some countenance is given to the theory of misunderstanding by a Russian song which enumerates the conquests of a fiery dragon among the saint’s trials during his prolonged martyrdom. Ralston, Songs, 232. I do not know whether this occurs elsewhere.
[46.1] Maury, Légendes Pieuses, 144, 145.
[46.2] i. Grässe, 460 (Story No. 502). There is a similar statue and tradition, but wanting the maiden, at Helmstedt. Voges, 194 (Story No. 165). A monument in the church at Brent Pelham is thus described by Weever in his Funerall Monuments: “In the wall of this church lieth a most ancient monument: a stone whereon is figured a man, and about him an Eagle, a Lion, and a Bull, all having wings, and a fourth of the shape of an Angell, as if they should represent the four Evangelists: under the feet of the man is a crosse fleurie, and under the crosse a serpent. He is thought to have been some time the lord of an ancient decaied house, well moated, not farre from this place, called O Piers Shoonkes. He flourished Ann. à conquestu vicesimo primo.” In effect there seems to have been a family named Shonke resident at Pelham during the Middle Ages; and there is said to be a traditional tale current concerning the person buried beneath the stone, “which represents him as having so offended the devil by killing a serpent, that his Highness threatened to secure him, whether buried within or without the walls of a church; to avoid which he was deposited in the wall itself.” Gent. Mag. Lib., v. Topography, 223, quoting Weever, Brayley, and others.
[47.1] i. Rivista, 748. Lilies of the valley which spring from the blood of Saint Leonard, another dragon-slayer, still reveal the scenes of the saint’s combats with the dragon of Saint Leonard’s Forest in Sussex. Henderson, 300.
[49.1] Henderson, 285, citing a communication from “Col. Johnson, whose family have long been owners of a portion of the Pollard lands.” A similar legend accounts for the armorial bearings of the town of Bradford. ii. Parkinson, 165. Compare, too, the tenure of the manor of Sockburn, also in the bishopric of Durham. Henderson, 284.
[50.1] Kuno Meyer, in i. Arch. Rev., 303, translating the saga; MacInnes, 477. See also Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, 595.
[51.1] Campbell, i. Circ. Notes, 326.
[53.1] Brauns, 112. This should be compared with Campbell’s version, which is more directly from oral tradition, though probably affected by literary influences; and with Mr. Pfoundes’ version referred to further on ([p. 91], note).
[54.1] The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire, by Sir Robert Atkyns, knight, 2nd edition, London, 1768 (the original edition bears date 1712), 202; A New History of Gloucestershire, Cirencester: printed by Samuel Rudder (1779), 402. I quote Rudder. Atkyns, who neither describes the ancient nor any other state of Gloucestershire, omits the detail of the milk.
[55.1] Readers who are unacquainted with this interesting church will pardon my mentioning that, among other curious relics of the past, it preserves the arrangement of seats around the Communion Table in the chancel, which was introduced after the Reformation, but which the reaction under Laud and at the Restoration in most cases destroyed. The Rev. George Butterworth, who was incumbent until three or four years ago, and who has written an excellent little book upon Deerhurst, kept with reverent care in its ancient situation the carved oaken Communion Table. But his successor has removed it as lumber to the north aisle, and replaced it by a brand-new deal altar and super-altar, with all the gewgaws of the present ecclesiastical fashion, to the disgust of his parishioners and of every one who values historical remains. It will hardly be believed that this gentleman bears the name and claims the blood of the antiquary Lysons. Is it not time that the nation took over every church with any pretensions to the character of an historical monument, and forbade under heavy penalties the injuries lately, and still, wrought all over England by fussy parsons and over-zealous architects? Or are we to wait until every genuine record of the past has been effaced?
[56.1] Ante, [p. 16], note; i. Henderson, 298, 292, 296.
[56.2] i. Cosquin, 75, citing ii. Orient und Occident, 753.
[57.1] Plowden, 84. The story of Menelek is interesting but irrelevant here. The name of the king’s daughter in the Bosnian ballad cited above ([p. 41]) is a curious coincidence, if it be nothing more.
[58.1] Mage, 672. A similar story is told in Senegambia. Bérenger-Féraud, Sénég., 185.
[59.1] Leg. Aur., xciii. Such tales are told of several female saints. M. Maury mentions Saint Martha, Saint Veneranda and Saint Radegund. Saint Veneranda or Venera (Venus?) is a saint held in high honour in Sicily and Southern Italy. Her legend is given by Wirth, 24.
[60.1] ii. Grässe, 29, citing Müller, Siegburg und der Siegkreis.
[62.1] Dennys, 110, quoting translation by W. F. Mayers in i. N. and Q. on China and Japan, 148.
[63.1] i. Leg. Panjâb, 17; Steel, 258. Compare the märchen related, ante, [p. 30]. The legend seems to be localised at Poo in the Sutlej valley. Mrs. Murray-Aynsley, in iii. Rev. Trad. Pop., 431.
[63.2] Saxo, 302; Elton’s version, 364.
[64.1] Liebrecht, 66, referring to the Saga and some other sources given by Uhland.
[64.2] Some of these omissions, but not all, are indicated by Prof. York Powell, Elton’s version, xcii.
[65.1] i. Blätt. f. Pomm. Volksk., 4, citing Dr. Zechlin, who gives it from the narration of a fisherman.
[65.2] Science of Fairy Tales, 235. M. Teirlinck refers to several dragon-stories current in Flanders, whereof some at least belong to the Enchanted Princess group. The others would seem to be Rescue tales. But he gives no details. i. Teirlinck, 147.