Behind dragon worship is a complex of beliefs connected with what is usually called “tree and well worship”. In Gaelic stories, the sacred tree is guarded by the “beast” in the sacred well, and a form of the “beast” (dragon) is the salmon; in the tree is the “thunder bird”. Dragon, tree, and bird are connected with the god of thunder who sends rain.

When Buddhism reached China, imported Naga beliefs were superimposed on earlier Chinese beliefs connected with the dragon-god who controlled the rain-supply, as Osiris in Egypt controlled the Nile, and the Babylonian Ea the Euphrates.

In the next chapter various beliefs connected with the dragon are brought out in representative legends. [[76]]

[1] Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology, 1915), p. 258. [↑]

[2] Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 334–5. [↑]

[3] Ibid., p. 364. [↑]

[4] Indo-China and its Primitive People, London (trans.), p. 192. [↑]

[5] Hawaiian Mythology, p. 257. [↑]

[6] Buddhist India, pp. 222–3. [↑]