THE DRAGON. 29 



fighting men been chosen. Women's rights in those days 

 were much less perfectly understood than at present ; and 

 the question of the equality of the sexes had not so much 

 as occurred even to the most speculative philosophers. 

 The origin of the story of the female tribute evidently is, 

 that the dragon was too formidable a creature to be assailed, 

 and that it was deemed sound policy to keep him in a state 

 of lethargy in the cave in which he dwelt by supplying 

 him with an occasional victim, rather than that he should 

 sally out and make his own selection. The whole story 

 would seem to show that the dragon was, like most 

 saurians, content to pass a tranquil existence unless when 

 disturbed ; that, like the rest of the race, he was capable 

 of prolonged fasts ; and that, huge as was his bulk, a meal 

 once a month or so sufficed for his needs. The dragon was 

 said to roar, and this again is another confirmation of the 

 truth of the legend, for the crocodile when enraged can 

 bellow like a bull, and this would naturally be the sound 

 that a great saurian would utter. Upon the whole, it is 

 evident that the balance of probability inclines heavily to- 

 wards the reality of the existence of the dragon up to com- 

 paratively modern times ; and we may still cling to the belief 

 that the national legend of the victory of St. George over 

 the dragon is not wholly apocryphal, but possesses a large 

 substratum of truth. 



