Many serpent dragons were infamous for their venomous breath, wich would poison anything
that inhaled its putrid fumes and would shrivel the grass upon which these loathsome reptiles
wriggled. The guivre's breath, however, was exceptionally toxic, spontaneously generating
virulent plagues and diseases. Wherever their was a guivre, there was death and destruction,
and France feared for its very survival. Until, that is, an extraordinary discovery was made that
offered a highly novel means of combating these terrible monsters.
One warm afternoon, a young farmer, hot and tired from a hard day spent laboring in the fields,
stripped off his clothes and plunged ino the cool, inviting waters of the local river for a refreshing
swim. Half an hour later, feeling greatly invigorated, he stepped out of the water on to the
riverbank and was about to dry himself when the bushes were pushed aside and out slithered a huge guivre.
As he stared in horror at this monstrosity, so great that the farmer's feear that he was unable to
move and expected at any moment to be asphyxiated or devoured, or both. The guivre
raised its hideous horned head and glared down at him, ready to open its terrible jaws and confirm
his worst expectations, but when it saw his brawny, muscular body and realized that he was naked,
an astonishing change took place. Instead of attacking, the monster seemed to recoil, its face suffused with
color as if it frantically sought to direct its eyes away from the lusty, unclothed figure. Incredibly, the
guivre was blushing. In a matter of seconds, the mighty serpent dragon had fled, gliding rapidly
away through the bushes. The amazed farmer remained motionless for several minutes, unsure
as to whether it would return and perplexed as to why it had fled.
It was not long before others had discovered that although guivres would not hesitate to kill fully
clothed men, the sight of a naked man scared them witless. This remarkable piece of knowledge
was utilized to good effect, ensuring that no guivre could ever agian com close enough to
human habitation to spread disease and death.
Indeed, guivres eventually disappeared from France. Some say that they simply died out;
others say that they migrated to lands where the climate was not so conducive to open-air bathing.
Not all dragons spew flame or noxious vapor; some spout fountains of water to equally
devistating effect. In the year 520, Rouen, the capital of Normandy, was under siege, not by a
foreign army, not even by some pestilence, but by something far more menacing. It had emerged
one pale morning from the waters of the Seine.
At first a great scaled head appeared, borne upon a long neck like that of some strange
reptilian swan. It was equipped with a slender pair of eyes that gleamed like moonstones. And
as the waters cascaded from its shoulders, the creature revealed itself as in aquatic serpent
dragon of colossal size. It was sheathed in a fine mail of pale, gluacous scalloping
and sported a pair of membranous fins in place of true limbs.
After surveying its surroundings for a few moments, the monster opened its mouth, and
from its throat sprang a tremendous jet of water that engulfed the coutryside all around in an
immense tidal wave. From that day, this terrifying creature-swiftly dubbed the gargouille, or
"gargler," by the local people-mercilessly saturated the land with great fountains of water
until the entire region was imperiled by severe flooding. Farmlands were devastated, and
countless people perished. Many were devoured by the dragon, and others met their death by
drowning when it wantonly capsized their boats as they sailed upon the Seine.
St. Romain, archbishop of Rouen, watched this unfolding caastrophe with mounting horror and
knew that he must act if the land were to be saved from the gargouill's dominion of destruction.
Learning that the creature lived in a cave in the banks of the Seine, he decided to confront it
there and to do whatever was necessary to quell its tyranny forever. Yet despte pleading for
assistance from the region's besiged inhabitants, he could not find anyone to accompany him on
his noble quest until he encountered a prisoner condemned to death for murder. Since his life was
already forfeit, the prisoner had nothing to lose by facing a dealy water dragon in its grim lair,
so he willingly agreed to help the archbishop.
No sooner had the two brave men reached its cave than the dreadful gargouille appeared,
rearing above them with jaws agape as it prepared to disgorge from its gullet a teeming
cataract that would blast them away to a cold, watery grave. But even as the lethal tide bubbled
upward in the monser's throat, St. Romain stepped forward, raised his arms high above his
head, and placed two fingers against one another in the form of the Cross. Instantly, the terrible
beast sank down, its threatened torrent seeping harmlessly from between its jaws in an insipid
trickle, its foaming fury thoroughly extinguished.
So complete was the transformation that the dragon even allowed St. Romain to bind its neck
with his stole, enabling the murderer to lead it passively back into Rouen. Following the
gargouille's arrival, the vengeful townsfolk gathered around it in droves, intent upon annihilating
their one-time persecutor. And, in accordance with their demands, the monster was put to
death, not by water but by fire, until only a great heap of ashes remained to testify to its existence.
These were cast into the River Seine, but even today there are ample reminders of the fearsome
gargouille. Deriving both their name and their water-spouting talents from this infamous
monster are the gargoyels, whose grotesque figures adorn countless churces and other
buildings in France and in countries all around the world.
As for the murderer, in recognition of his bravery and his loyalty to the archbishop, he was
pardoned and set free; and for many years thereafter, every archbishop of Rouen was permitted
by law to pardon one criminal each year on Ascension Day.
*Earth Dragon's Note* -Dragons are not spiritual creatures, some spirits may take the form of a Dragon, but holding a cross up to a real one will not do much, but confuse it.