St George and the pigeon

Trevor @ Thursday May 13th 2004 18:30

[Cementery of Sant Pere de Valldeneu: dove or dragon?]

This cemetery photo was taken near the beginning of an as yet undocumented walk which culminates in a bath in a 30m waterfall. It’s interesting because the flying beast rather resembles a dragon in dove’s clothing.

Offhand I can’t think of any dove <=> dragon myths, but there are plenty of references to pigeons and dragons in the monster-without-a-heart type. Here’s an excerpt from one entitled The Prince and the Dragon:

‘My strength,’ replied the dragon, ‘lies far away; so far that you could never reach it. Far, far from here is a kingdom, and by its capital city is a lake, and in the lake is a dragon, and inside the dragon is a wild boar, and inside the wild boar is a pigeon, and inside the pigeon a sparrow, and inside the sparrow is my strength.’ And when the old woman heard this, she thought it was no use flattering him any longer, for never, never, could she take his strength from him.

That storyline doesn’t, however, really line up with the photo, so I’m going to have to seek further. It would be nice if I could show that St George/Jorge/Jordi battled to death a winged rat rather than a giant lizard.

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Categories: Birds, Splog

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