The History of Dragon Folklore

Dragons are some of the most popular magical creatures in folklore, but who really created the idea of these scary winged beasts? Keep reading to find out more about the history of dragons in folklore.

Where it began

Many people believe that myths about dragons originated independent of each other in China and Europe, maybe in the Americas, and Australia too. But how did these myths come about?

That looks like a dragon

So maybe these myths about dragons began when people saw creatures that looked like the dragons we see in books today. In other words, animals that seemed truly terrifying. Here are some animals that may have been the inspiration for dragons.

• Dinosaurs: When humans first discovered dinosaur fossils, they probably misinterpreted them as dragon fossils. Take the fossilised stegosaurus, for instance. It is an average of 30 feet in length and approximately 14 feet tall, covered in armoured plates and spikes to defend itself. Doesn’t that seem like a dragon?
• Whales: Ok, ok, whales are marine animals, right? And people probably didn’t think they looked like dragons – that’s crazy! Wrong! Early humans probably discovered whale bones, and had no idea that whales were marine. And such humongous bones looked like they belonged to a ferocious beast.
•  The goannas: Australia is home to numerous species of monitor lizards, also known as goannas. Goannas have razor shar teeth and claws, and produce venom that causes their victims’ wounds to develop infections after an attack. Sound like a dragon?
• Snakes: How many people are scared of snakes? Almost everyone. But have you ever thought of how similar snakes are to dragons? Firstly, both are reptiles. Secondly, both are scary and can kill you. Could snakes be the inspiration behind dragons?
• Humans: The most amazing explanation involves us, humans. Throughout evolution, a fear of unknown animals and beasts has been implanted in our minds. So maybe since humans fear death most, the human brain itself invented a scary beast that could kill us with one blow.

What I personally think is that dragons are metaphors, symbolic of evil. In many stories, we read about dragons kidnapping princesses and brave knights defeating the dragons to save the beautiful princesses. I feel that maybe man wrote these tales to give people hope: to show us that good always defeats evil.

What do you think is the reason behind the creation of dragons? Maybe one of the above reasons? Or something else? Whatever it is, the myth of dragons has had a huge impact on stories around the world, from King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table to Harry Potter!

Hetty Feather: A Book Review

Hetty Feather, by Jacqueline Wilson, is a fun, thrilling and heartfelt book, loved by children and teens everywhere. I enjoyed this book so much that I decided to review it. So here it is!

Hetty is a fiery but kind young girl. She lives with her foster family, and her dear foster brother Jem, whom she admires and loves more than anyone else. But Hetty has one problem – the foundling hospital.

When Hetty was a baby, her mother couldn’t take care of her and had to send her to the foundling hospital. She was then taken in by her foster family, who Hetty has lived with for more than four years now.

The moment she turns five, Hetty will have to go back to the foundling hospital. She will have to leave her foster parents and siblings and her wonderful Jem, to go live in a terrible hospital with cruel matrons, nasty girls and millions of rules that stop her from having any fun at all.

Can Hetty manage to survive at the horrible hospital? Will she even see her dear Jem again? And maybe, just maybe, could she find her real mother?

I loved this book and I just couldn’t put it down. I was completely engrossed in reading about Hetty’s intriguing experiences, from sneaking into a circus, to being locked up in a dark room overnight at the foundling hospital, to searching for her biological mother.

I love Hetty because she is so confident and funny, unlike so many boring, saintly characters in other books. I’m sure any girl between the ages of 10-14 can relate to her thoughts and feelings.

Hetty Feather is my favourite storybook character and I can’t wait to read (and review) the sequels to this book.

Dear diary: 22 July

Dear diary,

From what I’ve written so far, you probably think Karina’s just a spoilt kid. But she’s actually not that bad! Well, she does throw a few tantrums, but she can be a lot of fun when you play with her. Today Karina showed me a box full of cat treats that she had bought for Skulls, and I helped her feed him just the right amount.

This evening we went on a ride in the auto rickshaw to Kanyakumari. I’ve always loved riding in autos, and I still do. Riding in the auto is just like a scene from a movie. You have the cool wind in your hair, and there are these picturesque paddy fields and coconut trees all around you. For some reason, I always feel sleepy when I ride in the auto. Dad says it’s because it’s really cosy and cool and just…… totally amazing!

You know, when I first came on this trip, I thought I would get bored and not enjoy it at all. But I’m actually really upset that we are leaving tomorrow!

This trip has had its ups and downs, but overall, I think it was spectacular and I’m really lucky to be able to come here every year.

Dear diary: 21 July 2017

Today we went to the Hanuman temple near our house. The road leading up to it is really crowded and there are loads of stalls everywhere, selling toys.

Karina wanted to buy a doll, so we stopped by a stall. But there was this family with three little kids in front of use, and those kids were taking FOREVER to choose the toys they wanted. When it was finally our turn to buy something, Karina wanted a pretty doll, a giant pinwheel, two packs of bubble gum and a whole jar of candy.

Aunt Keisha told her that all of that stuff was way too expensive. Karina threw a tantrum, and then  Aunt Keisha dragged her off to the temple.

So basically, we ended up waiting in the hot sun for twenty minutes for no reason.

I guess mom felt pretty bad about how the trip had turned out so far, so she took me down to the huge lake opposite our house. The lake is pretty dirty because a lot of men bathe in it, but it has these fish that eat the dead skin on your feet when you dip your feet in. It’s really ticklish when they nibble at you, and mom and I love going there.

Rita and Aunt Tara came with us too, and it was amazing sitting there in the cool breeze. The only sound around was that of Rita and I squealing when the fish nibbled at us!

Dear Diary: 20 July 2017

Dear diary,

I’m finally here in Suchindrum! We landed in Trivandrum on Saturday evening, and took a car to Suchindrum. It was a LONG flight from Singapore, and the three of us were exhausted. When we reached Suchindrum, I immediately rushed inside to say hello to my cousin Karina. She was playing with her dolls and I built a fort for them out of pillows and blankets. My other cousin, Rita, said hello to me and gave me a new notebook, gel pens and a vanity kit. 😊

After that, we had dinner. We had eaten a few snacks on the plane, but that was it, so we were STARVING. But guess what was for dinner? Stew!!! Sloppy, green, disgusting stew, which was filled with strange veggies like drumsticks. Ugh! When I made a face, Aunt Keisha said, “Stop scowling, Tanya! You’re lucky to be eating this…see…. Nice hot stew!”

The most annoying part was that she pronounced my name wrong AGAIN by saying Thaan-yaa, instead of Tan-ya. I corrected her thrice last year but she still doesn’t get it!

Aunt Keisha isn’t exactly the nicest aunt. When I was seven, I bought some cat food for the cats who live in Suchindrum, and Aunt Keisha threw it away because she thought it “smelled bad”. When I was eight, she said electronics “ruined children’s imaginations” and didn’t let me use my iPad for half the trip! Then when I was nine, she shut down the TV so Rita and I got so bored the whole time! Well, let’s hope she doesn’t do anything crazy THIS year.

Yesterday (Sunday), I woke up extra early to play with the cat here, Skulls. I love him. Even though he is so evil. Take last year, for example. He scratched dad so badly that dad had to wear a HUGE bandage for a week. Well, it was fun bringing Skulls into the house and watching dad hurry away.

Skulls is very playful, and his favourite thing to do is push the chess pieces around the house. Mom says he would be awesome at soccer if he were a human.

After everyone work up, Karina asked me to play Snakes and Ladders with her. At first, I was impressed that Karina knew how to play Snakes and Ladders, because she is only four. Well, five seconds into the game I realised that all she wanted to do was randomly move the counters around the board. I obviously told her that I didn’t want to play with her anymore, and she just crossed her arms and glared at me.

Next was lunch. I told mom I wasn’t hungry and begged her repeatedly to let me skip lunch, but she wasn’t gonna fall for it.

I ended up giving my lunch to Stray Doggie, this poor dog with a broken leg who lives in our yard. I would be nicer to him, but I’m scared he’s gonna give me some disease.

In the evening, Gran, mom, Rita, dad, Uncle Karthik, Aunt Keisha and I went to the beach. We left Karina behind with Rita’s mom, Aunt Tara.

I loved the beach. It was windy and it was fun to climb the huge, black rocks with Rita. Uncle Karthik tried to push me off one of the rocks, but I climbed down just in time. The best part was the sea, which was cool and clear.

Book Review: Once & Then

The books ‘Once’ and ‘Then’ by Morris Gleitzman are delightful reads, full of horror and suspense. The books, set during World War II, are for ages nine and above.

The story of ‘Once’ begins with Felix, a young Jew who escapes from a Catholic orphanage to find his biological parents. Carrying some food and a notebook with him, he reaches the town where he used to live. But soon he realises that things have changed, and nowhere is safe for Jews anymore.  Everywhere, Jews are being sent out of their homes and taken to work in labour camps.

After saving a girl named Zelda from a burning house, Felix realises that he has to find a way to keep himself and Zelda safe.

The sequel to this book, ‘Then’, is just as exciting and equally full of horror. The story continues on from when Zelda and Felix escape from a train heading to a death camp. Wounded but alive, they begin to look for shelter when they meet Genia, a kind woman who hates the Nazis. Genia takes them home and disguises them as her niece and nephew. But soon people in the town start to get suspicious. Will Zelda, Felix and Genia manage to stay safe? Or will be they be killed by the Nazis?

Once and Then are amazing books about how terrible life was during World War II for so many young children. Luckily, Morris Gleitzman has written two more books to continue the thrilling story- After and Now. 

I can personally recommend these reads for bookworms all around the world.  

My Impression of Impressionism

A few days ago, I visited the Colours of Impressionism exhibition in Singapore. It had numerous paintings by Monet, Renoir and Manet, from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Impressionism is a style of painting that depicts scenes from everyday life using short, quick strokes and different angles of light. It uses bold blends of colour and is a way for the artist to show his impression of the scene in front of him. Impressionism originated in Europe during the 19^th century. The exhibition was held in the National Gallery of Singapore.

Here’s what my experience was like!

When I entered the first room, I was struck by so many different paintings…all in black, white and grey. But as I went closer, I realised that the paintings weren’t done in smooth black paint. The artists had mixed different primary and secondary colours to form black, white and grey shades. That’s why no two shades of black looked exactly the same! I learnt that when Impressionism had just started, paintings were done in very dark colours.

Two of these paintings that I particularly liked are Le Bain by Alfred Stevens, and Clair de Lune sur le Port de Boulogne by Edouard Manet.

Le Bain (The Bath), Alfred Stevens

Clair de Lune sur le Port de Boulogne (Moonlight over the Port of Boulogne), Edouard Manet

Then we went into the next room. The paintings in this one were blue and green. I read that Impressionism had started with black shades, moved on to blues and greens, and finally evolved into pinks and purples.

In the second room, I saw a stunning painting – La Seine à Port-Villez. I immediately wanted to know who the artist was. Of course, it was by Claude Monet, one of the most famous and talented Impressionists. 

La Seine à Port-Villez (The Seine at Port-Villez), Claude Monet

Once we saw the paintings with blues and greens, we moved on to the next section. I think that one was my favourite.

Here, we saw loads of paintings by Paul Signac. The speciality about them was that the whole painting was created by dots. When you look at the paintings from a distance, they seem….like any other. But when you go closer, you see the individual dots clearly! Blue and white dots for the sky and clouds, orange dots for the sun and green dots for the trees and bushes. 

La bouée rouge (The Red Buoy), Paul Signac

I really loved this painting of a castle. It looks like it’s from a fairytale!

The Château des Papes in Avignon (The Pope’s Palace in Avignon), Paul Signac

I liked the bright and bold blending of so many different colours and shades. You could actually see the artists’ brush strokes in the paintings. That was unique because most paintings I have seen look smooth – in these, you can actually imagine the artist painting them!

I think I’m very lucky to be able to see original artwork by wonderful artists like Monet – the exhibition even had one of his most famous works: The Water Lily Pond Pink Harmony – and I hope that one day I can see Van Goghs and Picassos too!

Water Lily Pond: Pink Harmony, Claude Monet

La Pie (The Magpie), Claude Monet

This blog originally appeared on Singapore for Kids.