# faustianfriday dragon unicorn nationalunicornday

The "princess and dragon" trope is a common one in fairytales & folklore. In this trope we see a brave hero who rescues a princess (or noblewoman) from either a real dragon or similar danger. This trope is commonly a feature of folktale type 300, the dragon slayer

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2021-04-24

The Tarasque was an unusual dragon from Provence, France, 'fatter than an ox with a lion’s face and head, a horse’s mane, its back as sharp as an axe, bristling and piercing scales, six feet with bear’s claws, a serpent’s tail, and a shell like a tortoise.' [1/4]

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2021-04-24

This illustration from Harley MS 3244 f.59, mid 13th Century England, has been said to be the earliest fully-fledged modern Western-style dragon. Before this they were depicted as giant serpents or wyrms. Anyone know of any earlier representations?

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2021-04-23

The Dragon King & his Bride + Green Dragon Cocktail by Bertha Lum (1869-1954). Lum studied wood block printing in Japan & was inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e (floating world) prints + themes from Japanese legends & ghost stories as collected by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn

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2021-04-23

Dragons have always existed in global, cultural imaginaries for thousands of years. In the late Victorian era, William Morris made ceramic tiles of his favourite kinds of dragons. Which is your fave? ☺️🐉❤️

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2021-04-23

In Bistritz, Harker is warned: at midnight on St. George’s Day ‘all the evil things in the world will have full sway’. An allegorical prolepsis of the novel’s climax: St George (patron saint of England) vs the dragon Dracula - also ‘devil’. Self in fear the Other.

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2021-04-23

'For fantasy is true, of course. Children know that. Adults know it too and that's why many of them are afraid of fantasy. They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false [...]. They are afraid of dragons because they are afraid of freedom.'#FaustianFriday

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2021-04-23

The Stoorwyrm was a giant sea serpent in Orcadian folklore. In legend it was slain by Assipattle, a young farm boy who, when swallowed by it, plunged burning peat into its liver. It’s death throws turned the sky black and caused great earthquakes.

🖼 Bo Myles

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2021-04-23

Poseidon, angered by Cassiopeia’s vain assertion that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, instals a sea dragon to raze Ethiopia as divine retribution. Andromeda chained to a rock as a sacrifice to assuage the monster, is saved by the hero Perseus.
🎨BurneJones

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2021-04-23

The dragons are getting up, and they are hungry - painter Victor Vasnetsov (1846-1926) is a founder of Russian folklorist and romantic nationalist painting. With a pre-rapahelite eye, harnessing photographic information in paint, to medieval story, a heroic past.

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2021-04-23

The Heluo Zhi Yu, the mythical beast with curative power, who live in the rivers of China’s Tower River and has one head with ten bodies or tails like squid or octopus. It has the magical ability to gain flight and can transform into a bird.

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2021-04-23

In Scandinavian folklore, draugr are undead beings that were mean or greedy in their lives and continue to spread misery to the living. Originally they were thought to haunt burial mounds, but in more recent folklore they have become associated with the seas.

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2021-04-17

Fenrir will break loose from his shackles and finally get even with Odin by eating him alive when the world finally ends in a cataclysmic purging of blood, fire, and death. 🖼 Dorothy Hardy https://t.co/IbJaTIzr80

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2021-04-17

In Shakespeare’s day, ghosts were serious business. The religious turmoil in Elizabethan England meant that when he penned the scene, of Hamlet facing his avenging, ghostly father on the ramparts, it would be bone-chilling. 😱
🎨Gould, Delacroix, Fuseli

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2021-04-16

As well as Viy there is 'The Terrible Vengeance' ' Strashnaya mest' by Gogol - a story about evil spirits and the antichrist. It evokes folklore but seems to be his own paranoid invention. Cossacks do not fear sorcerors! Powerful illustration by Barry Bruner

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2021-04-16

Lavandeiras are beings from Galician Folklore, which also appear in the North of Portugal. They ask for help to twist their towels stained with blood, if help is denied, for fear or lack of solidarity, the outcome could be death. Seeing them isn't a good omen...

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2021-04-16

Oiwa is a Japanese ghost, the vengeful spirit of a young woman betrayed by her husband. He disfigured her face in an attempt to get rid of her so he could marry a younger woman. She cursed the pair on her death and returned to haunt all who had betrayed her.

1/3

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2021-04-16

In Norfolk you can find the ruins of St Mary’s church. It has an oak tree growing from its nave called The Witch’s Finger. But, it is less a finger, more of a leg. A witch with a wooden leg was buried alive under the nave and resurfaced to destroy the church.

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2021-04-16

"Your name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name."
—Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

The Scholar Queen,
will be with you for the next two hours of

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2021-04-09

Young Woman with Unicorn, Raphael c.1505 & Unicorn, Maerten de Vos c.1590. At this time the was generally believed to be real & its “horn” sold as a cure-all against poison. Elizabeth 1 had a unicorn horn to keep her safe from harm.

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2021-04-09