J.R.R. TOLKIEN a (O)SENN 1937-2017 BTU le eae sce ean aa oe ola nha Saute bs Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond——————‘( CHRISTINA sCULL & WAYNE G HAMMOND On 6 December 1961, Tolkien wrote to Pauline Baynes that The Hoard should not be treated in her illustrations for the Adventures of Tom Bombadil collecuon as ‘light-hearted’, but rather as a tale of the woes of ‘successive (nameless) inheritors’ of a treasure and ‘a tapestry of antig- uiry’ in which ‘individual pity” is not to be deeply engaged. In response to Baynes having chosen The Hoard as her favourite among the Bombadil poems, ‘Tolkien said that he ‘was most interested. .. . For it is the least fluid [of the poems], being written in [a] mode rather resembling the older English verse’ - that is, in the Anglo-Saxon manner, with a caesura or pause between each half-line (Letters, p. 312). Tolkien approved Baynes's pictures in the Bombadil collection except for her full-page illustration for The Hoard. Ina letter to Rayner Unwin, le wrote that ‘in spite of the excellent Worm [dragon] [the picture] fails badly on the young warrior, This is an archaic and heroic theme ..., but the young person, without helm or shield, looks like a Tudor lackey with some elements of late mediaeval armour on his legs. | understand the pictorial difficulties; but of course no dragon, however decrepit would lie with his head away from the entrance’ (29 August 1962, Chronology, p. 596), Despite ‘Tolkien's misgivings, the illustration was published, and continued to be reprinted; Baynes, however, took his criticism to heart and revised the picture for the Tolkien collection Poems and Stories (1980), improving in addition to the ‘young warrior’ and the dragon her rendering of the treasure, which in the 1962 volume is indistinct. 46 LECTURE ON DRAGONS [ce was probably asa result of the success of The H obbit, and the emphasis on the dragon Tolkien had placed in his 1936 British Academy lecture Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, that soon after the publication of these works (in September and July 1937 respectively) he was invited to give a lecture on dragons to children in the University Museum, Oxford, on t January 1938. The text of this lecture, reproduced in full for the first time below, reveals Tolkien's thoughts on aspects of dragon-lore not discussed elsewhere in his works, and provides a yardstick for the consid- eration of dragons in his writings. He began by discussing whether dragons had ever actually existed. He showed slides of pictures of dinosaurs, comparing them to conceptions of dragons. He pointed out that dinosaurs died out long before men evolved, but perhaps men had developed their visions of dragons from fossils ol these creatures, But while the dragon might not live in Natural History it had a definite place in Legendary History, man-made, founded on crea- tures that man knew, serpents and lizards, but made more terrible. He described the history of the word dragon, and of drake and other words such as wyrmn or worm used for the same creature. He then spoke of ‘the fabulous dragon, the old worm, or great drake’, illustrating his pores with slides of his own drawings of Glérund, the ‘coiled dragon’, and others (see Artist and [lustraror, p. 53). This was a serpent creature but with four legs and claws; his neck varied in length but had a hideous head with long jaws and teeth or snake-tongue. He was usually heavily armoured especially on his head and back and flanks. Nonetheless he was pretty bendable (up and down or sideways), could even tie himself in knots on occasion, and had a long powertul tail... i7CHRISTINA SCULL & WAYNE G. HAMMOND ——————— Tolkien continued with a discussion of how heroes in legend and ir erature have overcome dragons, finding a weak spot, cutting upwards with a sword or firing an arrow into the soft belly. He described ar length Beowulf’s encounter in old age with the dragon, and mentioned thar dragon's blood is supposed to make your skin hard and sword-proof, | and eating a dragon’s heart to enable one to understand the language of birds and beasts. He gave an account of ‘the greatest of all the old northern — dragon stories’, that of the Volsung Sigurd who killed the dragon Féfnir by concealing himself in a pit and stabbing from below as the dragon — passed overhead; how Sigurd concealed his name from the dying dragon — by speaking in riddles but revealed it when he was accused of concealing it out of fear; how Fafnir cursed the gold and foretold that it would be — Sigurd's death; and how when Sigurd tasted fat from the heart of Fafnir he understood what birds were singing. Tolkien also recounted the legend of ‘Thorr and the Midgardsorm, and referred briefly to Chinese dragons, to Merlin and the red and white dragons in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, and to St George. ‘The wrong way to div it’ 38 DRAGONS by |.R.R. Tolkien | am going to talk about Dragons — or rather some dragons. There are such an enormous number of these creatures that | shall talk chiefly about the few | know. Here is an alarming monster, outside this building - but he has been removed: so you need not be afraid ta go away as soon as you feel inclined. The picture was made, I believe, by Mr Bayzand of the Geological Dept. Anyway he lent it to me, as well as some of the other slides (the coloured ones) of prehistoric monsters. | put this one on just as a specimen of bulk. He is a Oxfordshire Ceteosaurus. Not a real dragon I think. Well, what is a dragon then? Certainly the chief question to ask (and answer) about dragons is What is a dragon? Also you might ask Were there ever really such creatures as dragons?; and Are there still any dragons? It would take a wise man, and one who had travelled far in time and space to answer these questions properly. So obviously | am rather a fraud - | have hardly travelled at all in either path (time or space); and am nota wise man anyway. My only excuse is that in my short walks — seldom more than /000 years on one path, and rather more than 100 miles on the other - | have come across a few dragons - mostly common specimens — and have developed a liking for them. Perhaps | should say an imrerest in them, a sort of collector's interest — such as quiet men take in the study of poisons or murderers, or nice kind historians take in great fierce conquering generals. I should be quite useless myself in dealing with a dragon; for although | know one or two secrets about them (which I will share with you) I do not think that, if I met one, | should stay long enough to see if the tricks worked. However, I don't think there are any live dragons here to-night to challenge 9j-R.R TOLKIEN me. Not of the real kind, | mean. There might, of course, be one or two of the sort that inhabit Bardwell! Road, where there is a School for Dragons, some of which are fierce; but | have kept some of that kind myself, Here is a picture of adragon-school playground. O no ~ that is not Bardwell Road, | am sorry: this is one of Mr Bayzand's slides, of prehistoric monsters. Rather : - more dragon-like than the last. Two jolly dinosawrs at play. Well, let us get back to the Questions. T am inclined to think that the second Question is the one to begin on: Were there ever really any such creatures as dragons? [ think the answer on the whole 1s Yes. Of course, you must remem- ber thar it is not Nateral History that | am talking about, but Legendary History. lam speaking of a very special creature: draco fabulosus europaens the ‘European fabulous dragon’. It has 2 kinds reptss or creeping and alatus or winged. Neither of these are now usually recognized by scientists. But rabbits exist; and yet much the most interesting varieties are not recogmzed by zoologists. There is fepis cuntculns braccalus the trousered rabbit, or Potter's Rabbit, of which Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny are famous specimens; there 1s conicielis sapiens Remi or Uncle Remus’ wily rabbit, These are one might say fownded on rabbit — and are more than rabbit. Require rabbit for their explanation — but don’t disprove rabbit. The extinct dodo doubtless once existed in Masritixs, although the dodo in ‘Alice and Wonderland’ [sic] had hands and a walking-stick, and played an annoying trick with a thimble. And you do not necessarily disbelieve in the existence of the obsoles- cent horse because legend has produced winged horses like Pegasus; or eight-legged horses like Sleipnir, the horse of the northern god Odinn; or because the White Horse of Berkshire has now a very funny shape. And horses are to us more fully real because of the White Horse of Uffington Castle, of Sleipnir, and of Pegasus; and because old heroes like qo ‘The legendary horse will probably live and carry on the life o DRAGONS Hengest and Horsa (Stallion and Steedman) could be named atter them em, f th te long after the last horse has died of petrol. the family ‘The fabulows dragon js like that, 1 think. He has less perhaps of fleshy horse-realness of Pegasus, though he is related to living animals, But he has a great deal more of the terrible winged reality of thought and imagination. He is largely man-made, and therefore very dangerous. But men can only make things out of what they find and receive. The dragon is thus founded on serpent and lizard (one might say) — more than either. the but is a great deal At any rate it is an odd thing that scientists who are not concerned with legends make pictures strangely similar, of terrible monsters that they believe existed once; some of those that have been reconstructed from the fragmentary evidence of the past are as fantastic and nightmare-like in shape as the wildest legend, [ am glad to be told that these at any rate are all dead. Curiously enough most of them are, like the dragon of the lizard kine: sawrions. What do you think of this Stegosaur or Plated Lizard. No dragon ever had a hornier hide, or more fantastic back-plates. | believe he was ‘only’ 20-24 feet long and 12 feet high. We are told that a variety of this dragon- esque creature once prowled about in these regions. | believe they have left their traces at Swindon. They must haye been almost as devastating to the distniet as the G.W.R, | don’t know if you would like to look at any more of these Scientihe ‘dragons’. If you do, you must remember that we are travelling a great deal further back in time than 1 am accustamed to go. It is'a strange, wild and almost incredible country. And nameless. The names are man-made and recent — and itis really through the names (which are to me as thrilling as : 1 " i ather the shapes) that you can survey this counuy a5 an observing VISILOT, TF 41J RK. TOLKIEN than as the victim of a confused nightmare. Naming in a sense is taming. Scientists really owe a great debt to Greck, though I am told they some. times handle 1 with less care than bones. The Brontosaurus would shake the earth when moving his 20 tons as well by another name — say Thunder Lizard — but without any name one could hardly deal with him ar all. Perhaps that is why legendary dragons usually concealed their names (jf they had any), and were particularly anxious to hind out what your name was. Legendary dragons knew a thing or two — though saurians are sup- posed to have been stupid. Here he is again — with some other sanraans: including the horned one Ceratosanrus: a herce carnivorous kind. Up in the air are some of the winged lizards that illustrate also the legendary dragon's power of flight, They look small here — but the prerodacty!s eventually became quite large enough up to 28 feet across the wings, | believe. They were a bit flimsy in structure, but they had nasty teeth. This is a Preranodan with a span of 13-20 feet. Here is a nasty fellow with a cracking name — “The leaftailed beak- snout’ or Rhamphorbyncus Phyllons in Greck. Now we will have some more land monsters: They belong toa relatively later date, | believe, in dinesawnan history = they are less lizardy or snaky, but have some dragon-like features. Here is the Styracosanerius (Shaft-spiked Saurian). Here ts the giant Horned Dinosaur: Tricerotops. A good name, for a horrble creature. They say he might be re feet high, over 20 feet long. And here is the fguanoden — about 50-690 feet long; 15 feet or even 20 feet high. Rather dragonlike to look at. But | believe only a browser on green stuff! It used to frequent these regions — or the regions that were more or less where S. England is now, before England was at all. his is another version, a German one, a pictorial guess, of the same 42 DRAGONS monster. A bit more cocky with the tail. These wo look as if they were playing Rugger — but without a ball. They look nasty to tackle, anyway, Well, we have now had a few pictures of prehistoric monsters, Yet in my talk their purpose is chiefly to show that science also fills the past with dreadful monsters — many of the largest and most horrible being of a dis- tinctly lizardlike or dragonish kind, All che same, most of these Dreadful Lizards or Dinosaurs belong to a past so remote thar they can have no direct relation with the legendary dragon — if we believe the scientists. In other words the kinship of dragons and dinosaurs is not quite so close as the kinship of Peter Rabbit to the live lettuce-eaters of Mr McGregor's real kitchen garden. The geologists and palaco ntologists who reconstruct these Pictures assign them to a very remote past. The Jurassic age — the great age of the giant reptiles - is, | believe, supposed to have ended anything up to 1-11 million years ago and some of the oddest and horridest belonged to the next age, the Chalk Age (a pretty long one), but even the end of that age is still enormously distant — millions of years: a distance so remote as to be meaningless in legend. Mr Bernard Shaw might say as he did of the calculations of the astronomers that ‘the magnitude of the lie seemed inartistic’, Certainly the wildest of the old lepend-makers and the most believing of his audience would have felt it an inexcusable exaggeration to deal in such figures. But we must more or less accept the figures (for the sake of argument) if we accept the pictures. No one I suppose can tell to many thousands of years how long strange obsolete creatures may have survived lurking in odd corners, But even such accidents cannot affect the fact that the Davosawrs passed away indefinitely long before the adventures of Men began. It is all the more remarkable that legendary tradinions reported mon- sters so recognizably similar in bodily shape to those reported by modern science building on quite different evidence. They seem to confirm one 4}| RR. TOLKIEN another, as it were. The dragon-shape has the terrible possibleness of the well-imagined. The reconstructed pre/istoric monster has the fantastic leg- endary quality of the real when not dulled by famuliarity. Dragons once existed then — or horrible creatures did. And though the giant Dinosaurs are not supposed anywhere to have been seen alive by any man, other strange and terrible-looking creatures existed later — and stil] exist; often of related kinds: serpents and lizards, And legend is better even than a magic-lantern projector in giving great size, and new colour, and new life to small images. A crocodile is enough for me, He does not need much exaggeration, It is from the frilled lizard that the Chinese are supposed (1 believe) to have got some ideas for their peculiar and multifarious dragons. It looks a bit trog-like when not annoyed. But here it is rampant, and here is one at bay. And who knows what bones and fossils may not have been discovered long aga, by men prying about in this strange world. Whole skeletons of some of the prehistoric geological monsters have been discovered — not always by people looking for them, or ready with the scientific Greek name. Dragon bones are an article of trade in China. And they are often actually bones of prehistoric animals - if not of dragons. | once as a boy found a saurian jaw myself with nasty teeth at Lyme Regis — and thought! had stumbled on a bit of petrified dragon. Dinosaur's eggs have been found (in Central Asia} - and though they are too old to hatch a dinosaur out of them, one would be enough to hatch a legend. Dragons come out of eggs. Undoubtedly in that stage they are easiest to deal with. If you ever come across a dragon's egg, don’t encourage it. Otherwise you may suffer this embarrassment of Thora the beautiful daughter of the Earl of Gothland (in Sweden). Someone gave her not an egg this time, but a newly hatched dragonet, which was pretty (as young things so often are). She put it in her trinket-box. Only too good a place, unfortunately, as dragons thrive best 44 DRAGONS when bedded on gold and jewels. This one Etew out of th (ul speed. Very soon it grew too large for the lad lay ou tside all round the building, with its tail in its mouth: and inghtened ql visitors away. It developed an evil temper and would not allow anyone near, except the man whose pleasant job it was to feed it - with anoxa day In the end the lady had to be rescued by a hero; Ragnar Shapsy-brecks (so called because he wore a pair specially for the battle), But you cannot always count on heroes turning up, if you encourage a dragon to prow. This was a fairly recent dragon —a ninth century dragon; for Ivar the son of Ragnarr Shaggy-breeks was the Norseman who killed St Edmund (King of E. Anglia) in 870. But | am anticipating. I have spent some time ¢ box with fright- ys room. Belore long it on the Question: did dragons exist, and have not properly answered the (Question what are dragons, though part of the answer is mixed up in what | have said: Dragons are legendary creatures founded on serpent and lizard. But there are lots of legendary creatures of which this might be said: basilisks, cockatrices, and others. When exactly would you apply the label: dragon? To some extent it is a matter of taste. For one thing dragon is. a fairly modern word, and what | call dragons were not called that by my ancestors who described them. Let us glance at the word. It's fairly modern — that is, | don't believe it was used in English before Henry III's time, which is of course only a matter of yesterday in legendary history. It was taken then fram Old French dragan, and that came from Latin draco, draconem, and that from Greek dodxay; and that from goodness knows where; some people have guessed that it means ‘bright-glancing’ wan ret: erence to the terrible eye of this serpent creature. Before tae Englishmen used draca — or drake (as we say still in poetical language) which has noth- ing to de with the duck’s husband, but is also a borrowing (but an nest and more direct one) from Latin. The ideas about dragons, and the ani about them, travelled as fast and as far as merchandise, and so did the 45|.K.R. TOLKIEN name. Greek dodxen' was one of those words destined to become pop . and travel widely - some words are like that, like our lord, boat, sport. It turns up in Welsh draig - of which once upon atime the plural was dragon, This gives us something to go upon because draco was essentially a large and deadly coiling serpent creature. The serpent that strangled Laocoon was a dodsxov. And already the Roman Latin draco appeared in milit a standards and was fond of treasure. Cicero mentioned it. Phaedrus tel was guarding hidden treasure. But the real native English and Northern. name was wyrm, Norse orm-r — that is in modern English Worm. Thea application now of the word chiefly to the poor little Lambricus — the carth-worm = is fairly modern. He originally had a different name. Worm _ meant ‘serpent’ — and included the dragon as the chief of the family. | (Stull the Long Worm does not sound nowadays a good name for a ship: It suggests fishing rather than sailing. Nonetheless it was the name of one of the most famous ships of Northern history: Ormurinn Langi the ship of © King Olaf Tryggvason (who visited these shores in the roth century, attack- ing London among other places). If we call it the Long Dragon we get the — idea better. The Norsemen often carved the figureheads of their ships into dragons: and so fearsome that it was considered improper to arrive ata new land with ships head-first as they would scare the spirits of the country.] We really need some pictures here. And 1 am extremely sorry that I have not got many. The ones we have had except that of the dragonet are due to the kindness of Dr Hobby, who collected lots of slides belonging to the N.H.M. and borrowed some from Mr Bayzand for me. So [ have been able to show a few pictures of prehistoric monsters and modern lizards. But I have nothing much to show of my own pet: draco fabulosus: the legendary dragon. I am sorry to say that | was laid low, and retired to bed, almost as soon as | had rashly promised to talk about dragons. Possibly 46 DRAGONS some “— ee dragon curse touched me, Anyway I have not manage ro o what l meant to do; find a lot of old Pictures of dr and modern pictures of old dragons. What | have got are not (t am ein very good specimens: especially those of my own catching. 7 This one | had to get from the museum — a refuge of dragons, You can see he could (upset?) with you, Bur though a poor drawing it is I think a Saxon white dragon that escaped from the Welsh Border 3 long while apo, | had better try and give my idea of a dragon in words, | think the fabulous dragon, the ofd warm, or great drake was of this sort, A serpent creature but with four legs and claws; his neck varied in length but had a hideous head with long jaws and teeth or snake-tongue, He was usually heavily armoured especially on his head and back and flanks. Nonetheless he was pretty bendable (up and down or sideways), could even tic him- sell in knots on occasion, and had a long powerful tail -— which in Norse had a special name spordr which was only shared by fishes and serpents. Norsemen did not mix up dogs, donkeys, cows, birds and horses and other rails in our tree and easy way. The swish of the dragon’s tail was dangerous. Some had wings — the legendary kind of wings that go together with front legs (instead of being front legs ‘gone queer’), The winged kind was, of course, specially alarming; though some of the direst and most evil of these monsters had no wings. Of course size is also a consideration. Dragons had smaller relatives in legend as in zoology - devilish lizards, enchanted serpents; and there were probably diminutive breeds of dragon, salaman- der, basilisk and the rest, as there are of men, horses, sheep or dogs: pigmy dragons, toy dragons, shetland dragons, But | don’t think | should call even a fire-breathing lizard a dragon anymore than I should call crows eagles, or poms bloodhounds. A true adult dragon - when fully grown, wach took | tae | i on a long time, and according to some authorities It required that the drag should eat another dragon first —a real dragon must be of a good sive. 47[-R.R, TOLKIEN Measuring in ells or fathoms (the usual measures) I should say anything trom 6 ells or 4 fathoms long to the complete circuit of the Atlantic Ocean or longer. But a respectable dragon should be 20 feet or more. The true dragon at his least was sufficiently large to be a terrible foe. One of the prehistoric monsters - less in size than some of them, but exceedingly fierce was the Ceratosaurus. We have had a glimpse of him, Here he is again. | mention him first because | believe he was about 20 feet long - passable as acommon or heath-haunting dragon; and most because I once read a description of him by a scientific man who strayed off his beat into legend and said that the Ceratosanrus “would have taxed the skill of St George to defeat it’. Possibly, lt was the function of dragons to tax the skill of heroes; and still more to tax other things, especially courage. The Ceratosaurus might have taxed St George's skill; he certainly would not have overtaxed it. Much worse dragons than that were defeated - and still ean be — by valour and luck. But though the dragon might be of a primordial and immeasurable size beyond the power of hero, his real dread did not lie in his armour, or his teeth, or in his size. The dragon may have been ‘founded on worm’ but he was more terrible than any dinosaur. Because he was filled with a terrible spint. The legend-makers put it in him. He was filled with malice. Not only the mere animal fierceness that fights for food and mate, or to defend a coveted hole, but with hatred of other living things as such. A dragon made a desert. He rejoiced in destruction and his wicked heart was fired by a smouldering and envious guess at the work of the things destroyed. Legend had filled him with evil, and he grew strong on that terrible gift: he was cunning, deadly, bitter and piercingly keen. You could mark the dread- ful change in his eye. More than the fascination of the snake for a bird. If ever you are laced by a dragon, do not look him in the eye. His glance has a terrible effect if it holds yours, He may seek to bind your will. At least 48 DRAGONS that was the way of old dragons, who had lived long he will probably try to find out your name. For dra magic. and even when defeated may (if in wickedness. Also Bons also deal in evil they have your name) curse vou as they die. Very terrible creatures, and not to be taken too lightly Dragons — at least those | have known — had a pecuharity which really goes with this spirit. They loved to possess beauriful things ~ though they could not use or enjoy them, They hoarded them. But they were tern- bly keen-scented after thieves. The hottest thief-haters and the cruellest thief-pursuers are usually those who possess large wealth which they cannot enjoy, but only lose. Such were dragons. Greed and hatred inspired them. That is, | suppose, why they were often so hot. There often were flaming dragons, frre-drakes: their breath was flame and venom, and with- cred what it touched. Draca sceal on bixwe: these words stand in an ancient English or Anglo- Saxon poem, and mean in full ‘the right place to look for a dragon is in a burtal mound’. For in the blew ar beorh or mound ancient legend (and often ancient fact) placed also the jewels and gold and treasure, wrought long before by the skill of vanished men. Of such things the dragon made his bed. So frequently indeed that old northern poets would just say ‘“drag- on's bed’ when they meant gold. But not a ring of it did the dragon use or enjoy. He could not work gold with patient skill, nor set bright stones against shining metal — but he could hoard it, and prevent anyone ¢ Ise seeing it, ; This picture ioe made by my friend Mr Baggins, or trom his descrip- | lot of treasure. ion. It is not very good — but it shows a powertu ' 3 and his venom, and his And how can you withstand a dragon's flame, - can ¥ tierce his terrible will and malice, and his great strength? How can you PI a it has been done. It needs first © armour? | really de not know — but orth bout the great dragons ol legend courage. For the most remarkable thing 2 491 KR, TOLKIEN is that their legends mostly tell of their overthrow. But machine-gun bullets are usually ne more troublesome to them than a cloud of phats: armies cannot overcome them; poison-gas 1s a sweet breath to them (they invented it); bombs are their amusement. Dragons can only be defeated b y brave men — usually alone. Sometimes a faithful friend may help, but it is rare; friends have a way of deserting you when a dragon comes, Dragons are the final test of heroes. It is a wondertul and comtorting thing, there- fore, to think that so many have been slain. For the dragon bears witness to the power, and the danger and the destruction than [sic] men find in the” world; and he bears witness also to the wit and courage and finally to the” luck (or grace) that men have shown in their adventures — nat all men, | only a few men greatly; but sull men, with scanty armour or none, and — with trail swords, For the Dragon like all wicked things has his weaknesses. For one thing” dragons are proud of their cunning and susceptible to flattery. They are apt to overlook the small or hidden enemy. They think too much of strength, — and think that all things are afraid to risk death and that the terror of death makes them secure fram attack. And related to this is the fact that there is — apt to be gaps in their armour. My friend, Mr Baggins, used to say “Every — worm has his weak spot’. It takes a lot of patience and courage to find out — that spor, of course, even before you trv to use your knowledge -— which requires a blessing on your hand and heart. | believe some of the most horny dragons are softer in the belly. If you dare, and can survive the blast, and escape the jaws, and do not quail at the evil head, and have the luck, to avoid the swish of the tail = if your fortune or destiny protects you, then you should stoop and strike upwards. A magic sword or spear might find a joint in the armour, but the evil of the dragon is usually stronger than such tricky aids. A cut upwards with a short sword is better, | tell you for what itis worth. | have not tried it myself. But | have read of the method qo DRAGONS being put to good use by a brave man. There exists still in a charred manuscript (in the British Museum) a poem written in ancient English, that is in Anglo-Saxon. It was originally composed, probably, a long time before any of the kings whose dates are (or were) usually learnt. Indeed it must have been composed a hundred years or so before even King Alfred was born over at Wantage. Perhaps in tha early day of the great King Offa 757-796 who made the dyke, or of his predecessor Athelbald (716-747). This poem tells of the hero Beowwlf, whose deeds interested our fore- fathers greatly, although they were performed in Denmark and Sweden. Beowulf had a long life and slew many monsters, and became King of Gothland in Sweden (a long time before Earl Herrudr's time), in fact in the oth century. Atthe end of his long reign a dragon came upon him. The poem tells us how he was aroused, and as it is rather interesting | will tell vou what it says — although most unfortunately the old Ms. is all blotted and spoilt just at the most exciting part. It says: Beowulf ruled well his broad realm for so winters, but when he was an old king, a certain dragon began to show his power by night: he had guarded his hoard in a steep stone-barrow upon the high moor. A path led in under the hill unknown co men. But a certain man happened onitand came upon the heathen hoard (meaning treasures belonging to men of past ages), and took a drinking cup, deep and glittering with jewels. He did net do this an purpose (he was not one of those bold and reckless men who would deliberately go treasure-hunting in these dangerous and curse-haunted mounds): he was a slave, who was running away from hus master's whip, and had no house; so he crept in. Then there tsa lar _ but as far as we can make out just as he took the cup, he suddenly saw } ; sleeping dragon, and fled — but foolishly took the cup, t buy his masters lavour again, qlJAR. TOLKIEN But the dragon, of course, soon woke. He had lain on that gold for 300 years, and knew it all. He missed the cup, and hot anger stirred ‘a him. H e smelt man’s footsteps. He waited smouldering unt! dark came, and then burst into flaming vengeance and came flying down from the high wastes to destroy the houses of men. ‘He desired to leave no living thing alive’ says the poet: that is the dragon-spirit. Having wrought terrj- ble destruction he went back to his den — he trusted in his stony hill, and in his warlike strength, but was mistaken. Because Heowwlf went against him; old but still valiant. Beowulf seems to have realized the nature of dragons: that their power grows to match power, so that they can destroy hosts and are usually only to be deteated by lonely courage. He was a king, but he refused to take an army. He had an iron shield made, took _ his great sword Negling and went forth with 11 companions, But even to these companions he said farewell in sight of the dragon's lair, telling them to remain behind and watch; for a dragon was beyond the scope of ordi- nary men. He went alone to the pillared door of the dragon's house, and challenged him in a loud voice. The dragon awoke and sent forth a blast of hatred, venom and hot vapour, and the earth rumbled. The dragon gath- ered himself together and came coiling out. Beowulf had overcome many monsters: the dragon was his final test. He passed the test, but he had to — lay aside even the noble pride which had sustained him in other battles: for he could not conquer it single-handed. His famous sword broke on the horny hide, and he was driven back and enveloped in fire. The watching companions saw this, and tled leaving him to die ~ all save one. This was a young kinsman of Beowulf, called Wigdaf. He had never been in battle before, but he came to help the king. His own ordinary wooden shield was burnt up, so he sheltered behind Beowulf’s iron shield, and they went forward together, But the Dragon reared his head and seized Beowult’s throat. At that moment Wiglaf stooped, and though his hand was burned, DRAGONS rruck underneath, and his sword found a weak spot and plunged in. Then peowull, though mortally wounded, drew a keen knife and ripped the dragon's belly, so that he was slain, and his fire died, Beowulf died, too, soon after, from the venom of the bite — the slayers af dragons have often to be prepared to perish in the act of saving other people from the enemy. Beowulf lived to sce all the treasure won from the dragon brought out to the light and laid before him, But - probably with great wisdom — his people buried it again with Beowulf, in a great mound they made for his memorial on a hill by the sea, a landmark for sailors, For guch hoarded gold is dangerous, in itself, and this hoard had been lain on for yoo years by a dragon and was cursed from of old by long-forgotten men: the curse had caught both the dragon and Beowulf, The poet says: “ia the ground the gold liveth still, as profitless to men as it was of old’, ‘This might be called ‘the wrong way to dow’, | have given you part of this story at some length because wt is the only purely English story about a dragon that has been preserved in full from the really old days. And because we can see from it that the English had a special and peculiar insight into the significance of dragons. One might say that the chief sorads that such stories teach, or rather awake in one’s mind, are all showing in this story. It is exceptional, all the same, in one point: the help given by the young man to the old. But that is because the whole story of Beowulf is about the contrast of youth and age; and the poet sees that even noble pride, which may sustain a young man s courage, has to be laid aside at last, as well as the sword that has been used in earlier victories. The English, of course, knew about other dragons. There are other dragon stories that have different flavours, so to speak: more fairy-story like. There are other more legendary things to know about dragons: the sort of riddles to ask them when they get inquisitive; the properties of dragon's blond, which (if you can stand it in moderation) makes your skin iBDRAGONS J.R-R TOLKIEN hard as horn and lairly sword-proof; the effect of eating dragon’s heart, hroken pieces of his father's sword. He was brought up for a while by Regin - who had become a magical smith, and taught many things beside the making of metal. Reginn cunningly got Sigurd to seck out Fafnir meaning, of course, as wily men do, only to use the hero for his own ends: getting rich. But he foeaed the broken sword anew into a ternble blade. People understood ewords in those days, for Sigurd was not satisfied when it clove the smith's anvil in two. He was only satisfied when it cut through flocks of wool that were merely floated against it by the current of a river. He called the Sword Gram the Wrathful. Sigurd and Regin journeyed to the Heath, and struck the horrible trail, like a beaten road, made by Fafnir in his crawling, when he came out to drink, The overhanging cliff measured thirty fathoms, over which Fafnir lay when he stooped to drink in the lake. Sigurd saw that this was no ordinary dragon, as Regin had pretended. By Keginn's advice Sigurd dug a pit in the dragon's path, and meant to le hid there till the dragon was above him, and stab upwards at the heart with his terrible sword. He would probably have been trapped in the pit and drowned in poisonous dragon’s blood - and that seems to have The tale gives a long account of the origin of this elvish and cursed been Regin's scheme for getting rid of dragon and hero together. But the gold which | have not time to tell. [twas the ransom of the northern gods Volsung-family were no ordinary family and were under the protection of Odinn and his two companions, which they paid to the demon Hreidmar / Odinn, An old man appeared with a long beard (one eye and wide shady and his sons Fafnir and Regin. And the curse worked at once, because r hat - that was how Odinn usually appeared) and showed Sigurd how to Fafnir killed his father and drove away his brother, and took the gold, and dig the several pits so that he could crawl out, and the dragon's hlood becoming a dragon lay upon it in a dark lair upon the Glitering Heath. would be drained away. And no one dared go near him, because he was vast and cunning and wore Then the dragon came out to drink, and there was an earthquake; and a terrible helmet — the Helm of Terror, But there was a great family of he blew poison over all the path before him. But 5. held his ground in the heroes descended from Odinn himself, called the Volsungs. Sigurd was Pit and the huge dragon rolled over him. Then §, stabbed Fafnir in the the last of these, born after his father was dead and inheriting only the heart and Gram went in up to the hilts. Fifnir lashed with head and tail so ‘That ts apt to make you grim and hard-willed and also to give you strange knowledge (such as the understanding of the language of beasts and birds), | wonder if FO’ Hea has ever eaten any of that? Many of these matters appear in the greatest of all the old north- ern dragon-stories — the story of Sigurd Volsung and the Niflungs. The English long ago knew a version of this story: the poet who wrote about Beowull alluded to it, comparing Beowslf to the Volsung dragon-slayer, Englishmen nowadays usually know it because the 19th C. German musi- cian and poct, Wagner, used the story - especially in the opera called — Siegfried (the German name for Sigurd) - blending German and Norse stories inta his own imagination. But on the whole I like best the older account — in Old Icelandic, made our of still older Norwegian poems, called the Tale of rhe Volsungs. The dragon in this story has (as is rare) a name of his own: he is called Fafnir. That is because he is that most dangerous of dragons; a dragon-body taken by an evil person who once had human shape and name. Fafnir was a demon who became in hate and greed a vast wingless crawling-dragon guarding the most renowned gold hoard of legend — the hoard of the Niflungs. 54 55|.B.R. TOLKIEN that all the land was broken about him. But Sigurd leapt out, grasped his sword hilts and drew it out. Then Fifnir knew he was mortally wounded and tried to find out Sigurd’s name; and though Sigurd concealed it at first speaking in rid- dies, the dragon (being cunning) taunted him with being a liar out of | fear. So Sigurd revealed his real name. And Filnir cursed the gold, and all who took it, and Sigurd, and forctold it would be his death. But Sigurd laughed at him. The curse began to work at once. For Regin who had hidden in terror now came out, and finding Sigurd still alive, began to think of killing him, i But he praised him, and begged Sigurd to roast the dragon’s heart for him, _ Had R. eaten it he would have become strong and fierce, possibly even a dragon — bur the hor fat spurted onto Sigurd’s finger and §, put it in his mouth. As soon as he started to taste, at once he understood what the birds were saying in the branches. Among other things they warned him that Regin was creeping up to kill him. So $. drew his sword in time, and killed the evil smith. That was the first effeet of the curse — and Fafnir was avenged on Regin. But $. got possession of all the hoard, and of the helm of Terror. And he rode away, to became the most famous of northern heroes — but the curse found him out in the end: but that is another story, a lo and ternble one: the fall of Sigurd the Volsung and of the great Burgundian | kings and of the Hun-King Attila, and many other people including the great and terrible Queen Brynhild, who Sigurd won from her flame-gurt mountain. The gold in the end was cast into the Rhine, where it still is. And for many ages the northern poets when they wished to speak of gold would call it not only Fafmr's couch or seat, or Dragon's bed but also the light of the water, the gleam of river, and the sunlight of the Rhine. Well there | have told you something of two of my favourite dragons — northern dragons — the foes and tests of heroes. These were conquered. 56 DRAGONS gut norall terrible things can be congpers by men. The sea is overwhelm- ingly stronger than the greatest imaginable ship. And we have therefore limpses of dragons that are unconquerable. | have heard, at least, of one: shat is the dread Midgardsormr, a Norse name that means the Dragon of hie Jsland-earth, who encircles all the world of men. In Norse legend it was tald that he will not fall until all things fall, in the Last Battle at the end of the world, and even then he will slay his slayer, the God Thorr or Thunder. No hero could deal with this primordial dragon; no more than we could drain the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. But oddly enough northern men when faced by such vast terrors take refuge not in fear but in merriment. And the Norse legends told a story shout Thorr and this greatest of all Worms, which is funny - and really all the tunmier if you can (as they did) at the same ume imagine and remem- ber that Thorr was the greatest and most valiant of the powers they called gods, whose hammer could rend asunder mountains and the serpent as vast as the seven seas. Thorr having been tricked on a former visit to the giants was anxious tor revenge. So he left hastily one day in the likeness of a young lad; and he came at evening-time to the house of a giant called Hymir. Thor lodged there for the night; but Hy mir got up at dawn and got ready to go fishing. Thor sprang up and asked to be allowed ro go too. Hymir laughed and sada little boy like you is no use to me. Beside you will catch cold if you sit out as long on the fishing banks as | do. Thér nearly lost his temper, and was on the point of giving himself away by hitting the giant with his hammer. But he restrained himself. ‘I bet I shall row you so far that you will be the first to want to turn back,’ he said. ‘And what do you use for bait?’ ‘Find your own,’ said Hymur. So Thor went off to Hymir's herd of cattle - giants usually had fine eattle — and cur off the head of the largest ox, called Himin byadr (which i?) RR. TOLKIEN DRAGGNS Means sky-seraper or so mething near it). He jumped in the boat, sar down near the stern, took two oars, and began to row, The giant was sitting for- ward and was startled at the way the boar shot along. Very soon he said iT was enough, and they were now come to the shallows where he used to catch flat fish. ‘1 am going to row a lot farther’ said Thor, At last Hymir said they were right our in the ocean, and it was dangerous to stay there because of Midgardsormr, But ‘Thor said *] am going a bit further still’, And he did, and Hymir became very uncomfortable, Then Thér put up his oars, took a huge rape as line, a great hook, slapped on the ox-head and threw it overboard, and it went right down to the bottom of the deep sea. Midgardsormr took the ox-head and got the hook in his mouth. Then the great sca-dragon pulled away so hard that Thor's knuckles were rapped against the side of the boat. Then Thar lost his quick temper, took on again suddenly his own terrible natural power, and fought back, driving both his feet clean through the bottom of the giant's boat; and taking a grip on the sea-floor. Then he pulled the dragon's head right up to the surtace. Thor bent his blaving gaze on it, and the dragon reared his neck There are lots of others not only English, German and Norse dragons but Greek dragons, Latin dragons, Slavonic dragons, Finnish dragons, and innumerable others. There are, of course, and specially Chinese dragons. Hut | have left them out - they are, I think, a different breed. On the phys- cal (bodily) side no doubt they are related, but in that very different and ancient Eastern world they have been filled with a very different spirit, or spirits. Their functions, as well as their shapes, are very complicated. Prutessor Haldane says that 'you ought to be able to tie at least four knots ina grand specimen of Chinese dragon, as you can in a well-bred piraffe’s neck’. | dare say he is right. They somehow look ike wire-worms turned into serpents. You can often sec them (well-done or poorly) on good Chinese vases (or on imitations), Here is part of one of the most beautifully modelled ones. Dr Dudley Buxton lent me this picture. [t is made of bronze and is part of an astro- nomical Chinese transit instrument in the observatory of Peking. Chinese dragons are specially associated with sky. China was a dragon-country and the Emperor's throne was the dragon-throne. But England also has some claims to be a dragon-land. Not only because here was written anil is sull preserved the poem about Reoww/lf. But this is the land of the White Dragon. You may know your early British history. If you do you and stared down and snorted venom. The giant collapsed in terror, pale as death. Then Thor reached for his hammer, raised it aloft — and that might have been the end of Midyardsormr and the end of the world would have been altered; but the giant had had enough, He groped for the bait-knife, cut the line, and the dragon dived back into the depths. Thar was so angry, will remember that Geoffrey of Monmouth was a great authority who wrote a History of the Kings of Britain largely about Arthur, He tells how Vortigern tried to build a castle to withstand Hengest and the Saxons, but cach night what was built by day fell down. And Merlin (then a boy) was dicovered and brought, and he made them dig a ditch, and they laid bare 4 pool, And they drained the pool and there were two great rocks, and in ie was 4 white dragon and in the other a red dragon. The dragons awoke and foughy furiously: the white dragon had some success — though it was later repulsed. Merlin said the White Dragon was the Saxons and the Red he turned and put his fist in Hymir's ear, and the last he saw of the giant was the soles of his feet as he [cll overboard. Of course | could fll many more hours with other dragon stories —of other kinds, and other times and places. Dragons crop up far and wide in the world, But | must confess that [ like best and only really know the ald northern variety. Anyway time sets some limits, and | have kept on the whole to dragons that have some sort of connexion with England. 58 591. A.R TOLKIEN the Britons, and prophesied unhappy things for the which later historians omitted or modified. . And of course England is also under the patronage of Se George — wha 's represented slaying a dragon. But that is really another sav St George — called by the BY poor Red Dragon — Greeks ‘th ae CCKs (he @reat martyr’ — icomedia in the days of the Emperor TSisclictin fo Lied lil Fort dngan ol ged ely Si oo end a an evil spimt — and the dragon-form was taken also as a symbol of actual evil: a visible shape as it were of the Devil. That is another matter, which | am not going into, Saint George was probably a soldier, an officer in the army, so that this way of representing his sanctity may have seemed specially appropriate, The Crusades did much to spread the veneration of St George, although actually he was revered in the West long before the Crusades. He did pot become regarded as the patron of England until abour rhe 13th century - before that St Edward the King had been regarded as patron. All the same it is curious that the dragon (though it be under St George) came specially to be associated with gold: with the old golden sovereign or ‘pound’ we used to use. The right sort of coin. Very wisely (I think) they 303). His dragon js have omitted him from the frene of the paper pound note — though a poor sort of picture of the gold coin with dragon appears on the back. 1 don't think dragons would accept paper money. They are rather wily beasts. Anyway it would spoil all legends if your bed and treasure went up suddenly in smoke. Are there still dragons? There 1 have practically forgotten the last Question. Really L don’t know. Where would you look? ‘The old burial mounds are bare — rifled by old dragons, or old thieves, or modern archae- ologists. Gold is scarce. | can only suggest a search in the vaults of the Bank of England. Perhaps there is a large one there — and the source of Go DRAG CONS ‘as obscure troubles, But you never know —- there are some wild cor- yariou : rill even in these islands. But I have not read any reports, or letters ners = he newspapers lately announcing that a dragon was seen alighting on it this or that h ees tw have got very frequent after about 809 and went on abounding right on through the Middle Ages. They disappear rather after 1700. Hire dragons were seen in Northumbria in the year 793, and the fact is ll. Such things used to be reported. Actually dragons seem reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, a very sound and generally rep- guble historical authority — in this year it says there were immeasurable Lightning flashes, and fiery dragons were seen flying. Perhaps Dr McCallum will explain these when you come to Electric Sparks. Bur dragons were still about in the 17th C, They were reported living from Mr Pilatus in Switzerland near Lucerne in 1649. 'There are some grim 18th-century pictures of contemporary dragons whose appearance is duly authenticated and sworn to. | am sorry | have none of them to show. Here is one from the Mundas Subterranens of Fr Kirchner -— showing adragon of the caves of Mt Pilatus. It also shows what | rather suspect that dragons were on the dwindle. So on the whole | think you need not be alarmed — not on this score. When you wake up and hear a screech and a roar, and see strange flashings and feel your house shake = it’s probably not a dragon attacking Oxford, but some great man’s heavy lorries using the road through sleeping houses for a railway. The alarming thing about dragons as I have sud was not only their shape ~ which may possibly now have dwindled or vanished - but their spirit. That is quite capable of surviving, and getting into other things that might otherwise have been useful or beautiful: men or things they make, like cars of acroplanes. 1 will say no more — except to confess a privatc horror. | think people 611.4. KR. TOLKIEN are wrong in imagining that our distant forefathers would necessarily haye thought very highly of us for our machines. Coming on an express train, lit up at night - very hkely an Englishman of long ago would have been alarmed, and possibly have thought that he saw a Jot of wizards or d evilg being dragged to perdition by a smoking dragon, But he was no stupider than we are = and he would quickly grasp the idea of these things (beet than they are grasped by most of the folk that use them now), Yet | fancy it would take him a long while to overcome his fear and repugnance a our roads — especially those of Oxfordshire: not all counties are so bad, ar least in colour. If you want to see a dragon-trail just go and look. they are smooth, slimed, blasted, barren — death to trees and hedges ang green things: black with pitch of the nether pit, taking the local colour and the sunlight out of every landscape, There was atime (not long ago) when roads were white and yellow and grey and red with the colour of the land. But a dragon has slimed them. I would rather have mud. However that’s just my fad, It is New Year's Day today, and will soon be evening if | do not stop: so I will wish you all av. happy New Year. And may you mect no dragons (real, legendary or symbolical) during all of it - outside a book. A happy New Year, Coiled dragon oz