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I've always had a thing for dragons. And I find it fascinating how often they are mentioned in history as if they were real. Could they have been historical creatures that went extinct and grew into myth? Consider the following:
“But according to accounts from Phrygia there are Drakones in Phrygia too, and these grow to a length of sixty feet.” (Pliny, ca. a.d. 70, Natural History.)
“Africa produces elephants, but it is India that produces the largest, as well as the dragon." (Marcus Tullius Cicero, ca. 45 b.c., De Natura Deorum, I, 36.)
Marco Polo, in his memoir The Travels of Marco Polo, also claimed to have seen dragons in China. "You may be assured that some of them are ten paces in length; some are more and some less… The head is very big, and the eyes are bigger than a great loaf of bread. The mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole, and is garnished with great teeth." He further related that men hunted them at night when they emerged from underground lairs, and merchants sold their "gall" as medicine.
Or what about the wealth of legends that grew up in so many far-apart cultures? They're found in England, Germany, France, Scandinavia, China, Japan, India, Persia, Siberia, North American tribes, South American tribes, Egypt...
Chinese historical records even include a Song Dynasty (960-1279AD) Emperor who raised dragons. (Niermann, L.D. “Dinosaurs an Dragons,” Creation ex Nihilo Technical Journal 8:1, 1994, p. 85-104.)
And ancient artwork depicts creatures resembling dinosaurs or dragons, often alongside animals that are still around today. Consider the Bayeux Tapestry, the stegosaurus-like creature carved on the Ta Prohm Temple, and the sauropod petroglyph in Bridges National Park, Utah.
Real or not real? It's intriguing stuff!
I took the dragon theme and ran with it in Song of the Mountain, the first book in my middle-grade fantasy trilogy. Orphaned Song must pit himself against wily Ju-Long, the ancient dragon who first brought evil to earth, as he tries to discover his own family history.
Song of the Mountain was a semi-finalist in the 2013 Kindle Book Review book awards, reader-nominated for the 2013 Cybils Award, and granted a Readers Favorite 5 Star Seal. Grab up your copy. It's free at all major vendors.
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