DRAGONSAND DRAGON LORE
BY ERNEST INGERSOLL
With an Introduction byHENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORNPresident of the American Museum of Natural History
“There’s no such thing in nature, and you’ll draw A faultless monster which the world ne’er saw.”
1928Payson & Clarke Ltd.New YorkPage 1
INTRODUCTIONI became intensely interested in Dragon Worship and theDragon Myth during my recent journey in China and Mongolia insupport of the Central Asiatic Expeditions of Roy ChapmanAndrews. Especially, in the royal city of Peking appears theapotheosis of the Dragon in every conceivable form of symbolismand architecture. The Dragons leading up to the steps of thetemples and palaces of the Manchu emperors, and the superbdragon-screen guarding the approach to one of the royalpalaces, are but two of the innumerable examples of theuniversal former belief in these mythical animals, and of thestill prevailing beliefs among the common people of China.For example, one night in a far distant telegraph stationin the heart of the desert of Gobi, I overheard two menpointing out Leader Andrews and myself as 'men of the Dragonbones.' On inquiry, I learned that our great Central AsiaticExpedition was universally regarded by the natives as engagedin the quest of remains of extinct Dragons, and that thissuperstition is connected with the still universal belief amongthe natives that fossil bones, and especially fossil teeth havea high medicinal value.Not long after my return from Central Asia, I suggested tomy friend, Ernest Ingersoll, that he write the present volume,preparing a fresh study of the history of the Dragon Mythwhich, now largely confined to China, once spread all over Asiaand Europe, as dominant not only in mythology but entering eveninto the early teachings of Christianity, as so many otherpagan myths have done. I knew that the author was well-qualified for a work of this character, because of hisremarkable success in previous volumes for old and young, andin his original observations on various forms of animal life,from the American oyster to many birds and mammals. He isespecially versed, perhaps, in regard to one very interestingquestion which is often asked, namely, how far the animals ofmyth and of legend, like the Dragon, the Hydra, the Phoenix,the Unicorn and the Mermaid, are products of pure imagination,and how far due to some fancied resemblance of a living form orto the tales of travelers. For example, it occurred to me,while examining the giant fossil eggs of the extinct ostrich ofChina (now known under the scientific name Struthiolithus,assigned by the late Doctor Eastman), that it may have givenrise to the myth of the Phoenix or of the Roc. On this point,Page 2
the author sends me the following very interesting notes:I have not studied the Unicorn. . . . The Mermaid isusually attributed to somebody's story of seeing a dugongnursing its baby, but I guess the idea goes back to the timewhen old Poseidon was half man, half fish, and had plenty ofwatermaidens, half woman, half fish, disporting around him. Thefirst time anyone saw Mistress Venus she was in that 'semi'shape if I remember rightly. . . . I do not find the Rocindigenous in the Far East, and I greatly doubt whetheranywhere it had a 'physical' progenitor, or was suggested byany big, extinct, ratite egg. I have discussed this in my"Birds in Legend, Fable and Folklore," and conclude it to be afigment of an ancient boasting storyteller's fancy. . . . Theonly other imaginary form of importance in China is the Feng--apheasant-like 'bird' analogous to the Phoenix--and probablyhatched in the same sun-nest. . . . As to your query about'mythical' and 'legendary' animals: My whole thesis in regardto the Dragon is that it is entirely imaginary; and I regardthe Hydra (absent from the Chinese mind) as merely anextravagance that arose in the West, perhaps by confusion ofsnake and octopus.I feel confident that the present work will arouse awidespread interest among students of animal form and historyon the one hand, and of folk-lore, primitive religion andmythology on the other.HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN.American Museum of Natural History,December 20, 1927.Page 3
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CHAPTER NINE THE DRAGON IN JAPANESE ART for Ingersoll - Dragons & Dragon Lore
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