In western European stories, dragons and gods of fire and water assume the forms of fish, and hide themselves in pools. Loki of Icelandic legend has a salmon form. When the gods pursue him, he hides in Franang’s stream, or “under the waters of a cascade called Franangurfors”.[1] After he is caught and bound, Loki is tortured by a serpent. When he twists his body violently, earthquakes are caused. He is closely associated with [[77]]the “dragon-woman”, and is the father of monsters, including the moon-swallowing wolf-dragon.
Andvari, the guardian of Nibelung treasure, has a pike form.[2]
In Gaelic legend the salmon is the source of wisdom and of the power to foretell events. Finn (Fionn) tastes of the “Salmon of Knowledge” when it is being cooked, and immediately becomes a seer. Michael Scott, in like manner, derives wisdom from the “juices” of the white snake. The salmon is, in Gaelic, a form of the dragon. The dragon of Lough Bel Séad[3] (Lake of the Jewel Mouth), in Ireland, was caught “in the shape of a salmon”.
Sigurd, the dragon-slayer of Norse Icelandic stories, eats the dragon’s heart, and at once understands the language of birds. So does Siegfried of Germanic romance. The birds know the secrets of the gods. They are themselves forms of the gods. Apollonius of Tyana acquired wisdom by eating the hearts of dragons in Arabia.
In ancient Egypt the heart was not only the seat of life, but the mind, and therefore the source of “words of power”. The Hebrews and many other peoples used “heart” when they wrote of “mind”.[4] Ptah, god of Memphis, was the “heart” (mind) of the gods. The “heart” fashioned the gods. Everything that is came into existence by the thought of the “heart” (mind).
The Egyptian belief about the power of the “heart” (the source of magic knowledge, and healing, and creative power) lies behind the stories regarding heroes eating dragons’ hearts. In an Egyptian folk-tale the dragon-slayer [[78]]does not eat the heart of the reptile god, but gets possession of a book of spells, and, on reading these, acquires knowledge of the languages of all animals, including fish and birds.[5]
When, however, we investigate the dragon beliefs of ancient Babylonia, we meet with a reference to the Ku-pu as the source of divine power and wisdom. After Merodach (Marduk) the dragon-slayer kills Tiamat, the “mother dragon”, a form of the mother-goddess, he “divides the flesh of the Ku-pu, and devises a cunning plan”. As the late Mr. Leonard W. King pointed out,[6] Ku-pu is a word of uncertain meaning. It did not signify the heart, because it had been previously stated in the text that Merodach severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart.
Jensen has suggested that Ku-pu signifies “trunk, body”. It is more probable that the Ku-pu was the seat of the soul, mind, and magical power; the power that enabled the slain reptile to come to life again in another form.[7]
It may be that a clue is afforded in this connection by the Polynesian idea of Kupua. Mr. Westervelt, who has carefully recorded what he has found, writes regarding the Mo-o (dragons) of the Hawaiians:
“Mighty eels, immense sea turtles, large fish of the ocean, fierce sharks, were all called mo-o. The most ancient dragons of the Hawaiians are spoken of as living in pools or lakes. These [[79]]dragons were known also as Kupuas, or mysterious characters, who could appear as animals, or human beings, according to their wish. The saying was, ‘Kupuas have a strange double body!’ ”