The Uses of Dragon Parts in Mythology and Folklore

In mythology, legends, and folklore, the dragon possesses many unusual abilities and properties. The same goes for it’s parts, once the dragon has been butchered. Some stories about dragon-slaying heroes describes how the heroes after the kill makes use of some remain of the dragon. And in both European and Chinese medieval thought, preserved in various texts, different parts of dragons had uses in medicine. These pieces of information exists far between, though, in an already obscure field of study; different pieces of lore are retold in some books and texts on the subject but not in others, and some stories have a myriad of variations where the exact dragon part and it’s effect on a human aren’t the same, and different variations of such stories are seldom compared in one place and only evident by reading many of them separately.

This article aims to collect these diffused pieces of lore about the uses of dragon parts, and have them written down in one place. This article, even when published, might always remain a work in progress, with the possibility of discovering new uses of dragon parts as time goes on, or at the very least discover new sources that further corroborate already reported uses for dragon parts.

Before beginning this account, there is one important thing to take into consideration. Because of marked and distinct physical, cultural and other differences, historians typically divide the types of dragons into two major categories: the Western dragon, meaning dragons of European and Middle East origins, and the Eastern dragon, meaning dragons whose origins lie in China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea (or, simplified, East Asia). Some historians even consider them two separate kinds of creatures rather than variations of the dragon creature. (Wyly, 2002.) The point is, that dragon lore written in Europe pertains to the Western dragon type, and that dragon lore written in China pertains to the Eastern dragon type, and unless explicitly written, lore about one of the dragon types is not automatically lore about the other dragon type. (In fact, lore about the Western dragons might not hold true for all examples of dragons classified as Western, and the same goes for Eastern dragons.)

One additional interesting fact: The Chinese medical writers found themselves with the conundrum that while they believed that the Eastern dragon was of divine origin, and thus probably immortal, they still found dragon remains which they made use of in medicine. Appearently, they side-stepped this conundrum by suggesting that dragons cast off both skin and bones much as insects and reptiles periodically discard their skins, thus leaving bones and organs behind without suffering death. (Hogarth, 1979.)

Blood

Going through the source material, the most mentioned part of a dragon’s body (at least as to pertaining to the uses of dragon parts by humans) is the dragon’s blood. Before beginning this account of dragon’s blood, there are some facts that should be told to create some context.

Dragon Blood Tree and Minerals

During the Middle Ages, because of its described medical properties, there existed a market for dragon’s blood. However, what was sold and used as dragon’s blood did not have anything to do with mighty reptiles. It was in fact a dried red-colored resin from the dragon blood tree (a type of tree that is native to the Socotra archipelago in the Arabian Sea) or one of its relatives. There is a story about the dragon blood tree that it is so named because it had grown from the blood spilled by a dragon (a limbless one) that had been killed while fighting with a elephant (Hogarth, 1979). This resin from the dragon blood tree has been used since ancient times as varnish, medicine, incense, and dye. It has also been used as part of medieval magic, for example as a part of love spells. When researching dragon’s blood, one must keep in mind that “dragon’s blood” in various text may refer to either the blood from the legendary beast or to the dried resin from the dragon blood tree. Even some books dedicated exclusively to dragons might mistakenly ascribe properties and/or possible uses to the blood of the legendary dragon that properly belong to the beliefs and lore of the tree resin.

Another case of mistaken identity is about cinnabar. In fact, its name comes from Persian for “dragon’s blood”. Cinnabar is in fact a very reddish crystalline mineral consisting of mercuric sulfide, and a very important source of mercury. Anyone who would consume cinnabar as if it were the dragon blood tree resin (a mistake that might have happened in a few cases) would most likely contract mercury poisoning. Mackenzie (1923) mentions a story of a Japanese monarch, Emperor Hwang, who prepared a “liquor of immortality” by melting cinnabar (probably believing it to be literal dragon’s blood). “Bloodstone”, haematite, an ore rich in iron, is also mentioned as a source of “dragon’s blood” (Conway, 1994; Hogarth, 1979).

Properties

Before going into the uses of dragon’s blood by humans, it is important to go over the described inherent properties of dragon’s blood. Depending on story and/or source, dragon’s blood has been described as either red, green or black in color. For example, Wyly (2002) describes that the dragon killed by Guy of Warwick in the area of what is today northern France had black blood, and according to Dahlström (2002) so did the dragon at Rhodes killed by Chevalier de Gozano. Hogarth (1979) in turn states that the blood of Chinese dragons were red in some cases, black in others.

In many stories, dragon’s blood is desribed as poisonous, in some cases so deadly poisonous that one drop on the skin is enough to kill a human. Examples include the dragon Fafnir in at least some versions of the legend of Sigurd, and the Lernaean Hydra from Greek mythology (though there are some who regard the Hydra as a separate kind of monster rather than as a type of dragon).

In some stories about warriors fighting with dragons, the warrior stabs the dragon with his sword, only for the dragon’s blood to dissolve the parts of the sword it touches. Many of the these stories thus describes the dragon’s blood as acidic, though the article writer finds it important to mention that some stories are worded in such a way that it rather sounds like the sword’s metal is melting because of heat from the blood.

Important to note is that depending on the story and/or source, dragon’s blood can possess all above properties, or only some of them; the properties to not exist universally across all stories, even on a specific continent.

According to Hogarth (1979), there existed a belief during the Middle Ages that there was a natural antipathy between dragons and eagles, and that because of that, the blood of a dragon would not mix with the blood of an eagle. Presumably, this meant that eagle’s blood could be used to authenticate dragon’s blood when buying it from traders. (Hogarth states his own opinion that this with no doubt resulted in the trade of bogus eagle’s blood.)

According to Hogarth (1979), the blood of the Chinese dragon was said to turn into amber when it entered the ground. While the Chinese ascribed various uses to other dragon parts, they seem to have found no other use for a dragon’s blood than it turning into highly prized amber; this is in contrast with Western lore, which ascribed extensive uses and effects of a dragon’s blood.

In Slavic myth, the blood of a dragon is so vile, that the earth refuses to let it inside itself, and the spilled dragon’s blood remain above the ground for all eternity. (Dahlström, 2002; W6.)

The story of Sigurd Fafnirsbane

In Scandinavian and Teutonic legend, a well-known dragonslayer is Sigurd, in some accounts known as Siegfried, who killed the dragon Fafnir. The arguably most well-known account of the effects of a dragon’s blood might come from this legend. The legend has many versions, variants and different retellings, which migtht make it difficult to pin down the finest details about dragon’s blood. The subject will be examined in several steps. Two distinct effects of the dragon’s blood appear across the different versions of the legend; one when ingested, one when applied the skin.

Hogarth (1979) tells that in Scandinavian but not in Teutonic legend, Sigurd roasts the dragon’s heart over a fire, burns his finger when testing it, and when putting his finger in his mouth, he ingests dragon blood that had been on the heart, which immediately gave Sigurd an understanding of the language of birds. Niles (2013) tells the same thing (though without mentioning Scandinavian or Teutonic legend in his writing).  Wyly (2002) gives an account where when Sigurd drinks Fafnir’s blood, he is instantly aware of all of the languages of all animals, and explains that this effect of gaining knowledge is because digesting the dragon’s blood quite literally means digesting that which the dragon had known when it was still alive. Dahlström (2002) tells that when the dragon’s heart blood touched Sigurd’s tongue, Sigurd understood what the birds were singing, since that knowledge were in the dragon’s blood. DeKirk (2006) gives the account that when Siegfried (Sigurd) put his finger in his mouth after burning it on the dragon’s heart, he from that moment understood animals as if they spoke the human tongue. (Writer’s Note: This talk of understanding birds or animals is important for the story since Sigurd receives important information by listening to birds talking, in most versions a warning about the planned treachery from Sigurd’s companion, Regin or Mime.)

Many sources, including variants stated by Hogarth (1979), Dahlström (2002), Mercatante (2009) and a website (W3), specifically word their accounts to point out in passing that the blood that Sigurd tastes is the dragon’s heart blood, while other accounts leaves this implicit (by the fact that Sigurd gets the blood on his finger at the same time he touches the heart). While not explicitly substantiated by any sources, the writer of this article would like to point out the possible theory that it is an important point that the blood that gives Sigurd new knowledge or abilities upon consumption is Fafnir’s heart blood, blood from the heart, which in old times was thought to be connected with thoughts, the mind or the soul. Perhaps the effect of the dragon’s blood of gaining the knowledge of the language of birds (which might be the effect of gaining Fafnir’s own knowledge) was specific to the dragon’s heart blood, and would not have happened with blood from another part of the dragon’s body. This theory might be strengthened by the existence of a version of the legend retold by Niles (2013) where Sigurd is told that eating the dragon’s heart would grant him “immortal wisdom”, and/or by the fact that there are mentions of variants of the Sigurd legend where the wording and telling makes the acquisition of the language of birds by Sigurd an effect of eating the dragon’s heart (Coleman, 2007; Grimm, 1883; W4), rather than consuming the dragon’s blood (a variant that is much less common then the consumption of the dragon’s blood for the effect, but still existent; they might or might not be the results of misunderstandings or mistakes though, source criticism is important). Though not explicitly substantiated by any source material, the theory is possible, even if one were to encounter further variants of the legend where dragon’s blood from somewhere other than the dragon’s heart was digested by Sigurd and gave him knowledge.

There is a noticable contradiction that the various versions of the Sigurd legend doesn’t explain. Niles (2013) retells the following version of the legend: Each morning, Fafnir went to a riverbank close to his cave to drink. When Sigurd and his travelling companion Regin the dwarf arrived to the area, Regin suggested that Sigurd should dig a deep hole in the ground close to the dragon’s walking path, and hide there until the dragon passed over it, at which time Sigurd could stab the dragon’s soft underbelly. Regin withdrew to a safe distance, and Sigurd began to dig. At one point, he was approached by an old man, in reality the god Odin in disguise. Odin suggested that Sigurd should dig a shallow pit to the side of the first one, large enough for Sigurd to retreat to for safety after stabbing the dragon. Otherwise, Sigurd would be killed when the dragon’s poisonous blood fell into Sigurd’s hiding place, something Regin probably had counted on in order to keep Fafnir’s treasure to himself. Sigurd followed this advice. When Sigurd heard the dragon’s approach, he hid in the deep pit and waited until the dragon’s belly was over his head. Sigurd thrust his sword deep into the dragon and then quickly rolled into the second, shallow pit for safety. In a short time, Fafnir died from blood loss. When Regin emerged from hiding, he found that Sigurd still lived. At that point, Regin asked Sigurd to cook the dragon’s heart for Regin to eat, and Sigurd for whatever reason complied and began to cook it over a hot fire. What follows is the already related story of Sigurd burning his finger on the heart when testing it, and ingesting the blood from the dragon that had been on the heart when he put the finger in his mouth, thus making him understand the language of birds. The unexplained contradiction in the story is, that if the dragon’s blood was poisonous, in fact deadly at mere skin contact, why wasn’t Sigurd poisoned when he ingested it? Hogarth (1979) refers to an account of the Sigurd legend where Sigurd does most of the same things, like digging a pit to hid in and stabbing the dragon when it passed over the pit. What differs, besides Sigurd stabbing Fafnir under the left shoulder instead of the belly, is that afterwards, Sigurd wrenches out his sword, and gets his arms bloody right up to the shoulders in the dragon’s blood. Since Sigurd doesn’t drop dead because of this, and the account does not mention poisonous blood, one can infer that Fafnir’s blood was not poisonous in all versions of the Sigurd legend, only some of them. The contradiction might have arisen from continued elaborations and embellishment to different versions of the legend. Otherwise, with no explanation given in the story itself, it is left to the readers to assume that the blood’s poisonous qualities disappeared with time, perhaps as a direct result of the dragon’s death.

In some versions of the Sigurd legend, after killing Fafnir, Sigurd bathes in the dragon’s blood, which appearently made him invincible (Dahlström, 2002; Hogarth, 1979; Wyly, 2002). Dahlström (2002) elaborates on this, describing that Sigurd’s skin became like “horn”, which protected him against sword and lance. Conway (1994) probably describes it best in his mention that in European lore, bathing in dragon’s blood was said to make a person invulnerable to stab wounds, a piece of lore that seems to refer to the Sigurd legend. Grimm (1883) describes that painting oneself in a dragon’s blood hardens the skin against all injury. As was similarly pointed out in the last paragraph, in the versions where Sigurd bathes in the dragon’s blood, the blood could not have been poisonous, at least not at the point of time Sigurd bathed in it (the writer of this article cannot remember a version of the legend were they both mentioned poisonous blood and included a bathing in the blood for invulnerability at the top of the writer’s head, though this does not exclude the possibility of such a version). In versions of the legend that includes Sigurd bathing in the dragon’s blood, it is also mentioned that there was a spot on Sigurds back where a leaf had stuck before he bathed, thus keeping that spot of skin out of contact with the dragon’s blood and leaving a vulnerable point in his otherwise invulnerable body (very much an Achilles heel).

As an additonal note, Hogarth (1979) relays a version of the legend where Regin drank of Fafnir’s blood after Sigurd killed the dragon, before asking Sigurd to cook the dragon’s heart. This account does not mention what effect, if any, it had on Regin. (Though one could infer that he also understood the language of birds at that point; the writer of this article might then speculate that if it was like that, Regin probably didn’t hear the birds that warned Sigurd about Regin’s treachery).

Hardening in dragon’s blood

In Western lore, there are many stories of swords that had been hardened or tempered in dragon’s blood, with the implication that they were much harder than regular swords (perhaps even unbreakable, at least in practice).

In the description used by Klaeber (1950) when he talks about swords in Nordic stories, he mentions two possible interpretations of this hardening process. The first interpretation is that the sword was believed to be hardened by the blood of battle; in a dragon fight, the act of piercing the dragon with the sword gives the sword a poisonous quality because of the dragon’s poisonous blood, thus hardening the sword in poison. (Writer’s Notes: This interpretation could not work with dragons whose blood showed acidic or melting properties, but such dragons were perhaps not portrayed in Nordic stories.) The other interpretation is that the sword was hardened by a fluid employed for the hardening when the sword was being made; in relation to dragons, the sword was hardened by dipping it in dragon’s blood. (Writer’s Notes: The second interpretation is the one the writer always assumed when reading about weapons hardened in dragon’s blood; the first interpretation was new to the writer when reading it for source material for this article.)

In the story of Beowulf, the king Hunford gives the sword Hrunting to Beowulf as a token of reconciliation, which the king claimed to have been hardened in dragon’s blood, and in a version of the Sigurd legend, Siegfried (Sigurd) is offered the sword Balmung, which had been forged by dwarfs and tempered in dragon’s blood, as payment for the task of fairly dividing the treasure two brothers and kings had left from their father. (Wägner, 1884.) There is even a version of the legend where Siegfried, after killing the dragon, forged a sword by himself which he hardened in the blood of the dragon (Wägner, 1907). Another sword mentioned to have been hardened in dragon’s blood were Adelring (W5). (Important to note is that there might be several swords having the name Adelring in different legends.) In the story of Dietrich of Bern, a dwarf named Alberich (who might or might not be the same Alberich that features in the story of Ortnit below) brandished a sword that had been tempered in dragon’s blood and could cut through iron and stone (Mercatante, 2009).

Day (2000) describes how the dwarf king Alberich gifted the hero Ortnit with an armor and a sword, Rosen, which both had been forged by Alberich and tempered in dragon’s blood; the sword was described as unbreakable and the armor as impenetrable.

Ananikian (1916), when talking about Armenian mythology, describes how a spurious treaty document between Constantine and Tiridates says that Constantine presented his Armenian ally with a spear which had been dipped in the dragon’s blood. King Arshag, son of Valarshag, was also desribed as having a spear dipped in the blood of “reptiles”, and which could pierce thick stones. Weapons such as these were supposed to inflict incurable wounds.

(Writer’s Notes: These stories might reference two distinct phenomena. The first is that dragon’s blood can be used to harden metal, making it harder than simple iron and/or steel. The second is that dipping a weapon in a poisonous  substance like dragon’s blood gives the weapon qualities of causing incurable wounds or causing poisoning. The last phenomenon can be further divided into two. The first is that a weapon simply is covered in a poisonous substance, like with Heracles dipping his arrows in the Hydra’s blood or gall, or how some tribes in jungles poison their arrows with poisonous frogs, and that this covering is what poisons the target. The second is that the weapon somehow absorbs some qualities of the poisonous substance, and gain new properties that in themselves causes poisoning or suppress the wounded’s healing process.)

Other uses and effects

According to Hogarth (1979), there is an account in the Danish Hrolf’s Saga where a man named Bothvar killed a winged dragon. One of Bothvar’s associates then drank the dragon’s blood and ate the dragon’s heart, whereby he became brave and strong. Conway (1994) describe the same story, but in his account Bothvar’s associate only eats the dragon’s heart to become “extremely” brave and strong.

Hogarth (1979) further states that scribes could use dragon’s blood to dissolve gold for the illumination of manuscripts, and indirectly compares the dragon’s blood to Aqua Regia (“King’s Water”), a solution of nitric and hydrochloric acid that is used to dissolve gold and some other noble metals. (This certainly goes hand in hand with stories where the dragon’s blood can acidly dissolve swords upon wounding the dragon.)

Hogarth (1979) relates another, rare use of dragon’s blood; if a fire had been started by the sprinkling of hot lion’s blood onto one of the Five Magic Stones (artifacts the article writer is unfamiliar with), only dragon’s blood was powerful enough to extinguish the flames. (A use which might show the Western dragon’s connection to fire, but which doesn’t seem very common.)

Coleman (2007) also relates an obscure use of dragon’s blood. Appearently, in the kingdom of Prester John, there existed many stones with different uses and effects. Stones which could control the ambient temperature, turn water into wine or milk, or cause fire if sprinkled with dragon’s blood. (This last use is probably made more easy to perform by the fact that the kingdom of Prester John was also said to have dragons which could be tamed and used as aerial transport.)

According to Dahlström (2002), dragon’s blood was used in medieval medicine and magic as a curative for, among other things, kidney problems and blindness. He mentions that St. Hildegard of Bingen wrote a medicinal text that describes how to use diluted dragon’s blood to destroy kidney- and gallstones, but warned against consuming undiluted dragon’s blood, since this would unfailingly cause death. Hogarth (1979) also states that dragon’s blood could cure kidneystones and blindness. Like with all sources from medieval Europe, they could be talking about resin from the dragon blood tree, but the sources probably believed they were talking about blood from an actual dragon, and the effects here are a bit different from the usually described uses of resin from the dragon blood tree.

Emeagwali & Bekerie (2007) tells a story about Makeda, queen of Ethiopia, also known as the Queen of Sheba. In the story, Ethiopia used to be ruled by dragonlike animals called Agabos. The people made offerings to the king of the Agabos, large quantities of sweet beer, milk and eldest daughters. One day, Makeda was tied to a tree as an offering. Four saints happened to stop at the tree, and one of them, Abba Mentelios, killed the  dragon with his cross and freed Makeda. At that point, some blood from the dragon spilled on one of Makeda’s heels and her foot turned into a donkey’s hoof. When the people saw that the dragon was dead, they made Makeda their ruler. Makeda then went to Jerusalem to visit king Solomon, who was reputed to have medical skills, in the hope that he could help her with her deformed foot. As soon as she arrived at the king’s court, her foot returned to it’s natural form.

Earlier, this article told the story of how the dragon blood tree supposedly grew from the spilled blood of a dragon fighting an elephant. This is not the only time dragon’s blood has been depicted as influencing the plant kingdom. Mackenzie (1923) refers to another source when he describes how in China, the plum tree was connected with the dragon. According to him, there is a story of a dragon whose ears were cut off as punishment. The dragon’s blood fell on the ground, and from it a plum tree sprang up, bearing fleshy fruit without kernels. A website (W2) mention that in one Italian myth, when men who had killed a dragon cleaned their swords on the grass, the drops of the dragon’s blood turned into larkspurs.

Other dragon parts

Bones

There was (and maybe still is) a market for dragon bones in China because of their use in medicine. Important for context, it should mentioned that today there is proof that most of these bones that circulated the market came from dead mammoths, elephants and rhinos, whose bones resembled the image the Chinese had of dragon bones (W1). Other sources mentions dinosaur fossils as a source of dragon bones, and that many fossils might have ended up as powder rather than in a museum, to the despair of paleontologists.

The Chinese have complex medical lore pertaining to dragon bones. Dragon bones came in five different colors – blue, yellow, red, white and black. (The number five is important in much of Chinese lore, and the colors mentioned have connections to other 5s in said lore.) Different colors were associated with different organs in the human body, and it was important that bones of the right color was used when used to treat different illnessess. The bones had to be prepared in exacting ways. Some bones were said to be slighly poisonous (which the writer of this article thinks would have been more fitting in the Western dragon which sometimes had poisonous breath and/or poisonous blood rather than the water-associated Eastern dragon), and special care had to be taken. Bones had to be roasted red hot over a fire, or soaked in spirits overnight and then dried over a fire, before being pulverized. (Hogarth, 1979.) Now to its uses:

“Powdered dragon bones were considered to cure dysentry, gallstones, infantile fever and convulsions, boils in the bowels and internal ulcers, paralysis of the legs, illnesses of pregnant women and remittent fever and abcesses. Blowing powdered bones into the nose or ears stopped bleeding of these organs, and also alleviated the navel abcesses of babies. It was claimed that the strong Yang power of the bones overcame any Yin demons of illness that might infest a body.”

(Dahlström 2002; Hogarth, 1979.)

According to Roman scholar Pliny in his book Natural History, dragon’s teeth and vertebrae, when ground up and consumed, make people more susceptible to being commanded by their superiors. This is European lore distinct from the Chinese medical lore. (Wyly, 2002.)

Hogarth (1979) relate how the first vertebra from a (Western) dragon’s backbone was considered a useful aid in petitioning those in power.

Brains

According to Chinese lore, a dragon’s brain, especially the brain of a thousand years old dragon, cured dysentry. (Hogarth, 1979.)

Dracontias

There exist stories of Western dragons having a precious stone, called the dracontias, in its head or in its forehead. It was said to possess wondrous properties, but for it to keep these properties when removed, it had to be removed from the dragon while it was still alive. Some authorities claimed that the stone could be used to detect poison. According to one story, the Chevalier do Gozano, who killed a dragon on the island of Rhodes in the year 1345, came into possession of a dracontias. It was described as having the size of an olive and being beautifully colored. The story tells that when the dracontias was put into water and the water boiled, the water became an antidote to poison and disease, leading to complete recovery. Some versions tell the story as if the dracontias itself cause the water to boil without outside assistance. (Conway, 1994; Hogarth, 1979.)

According to Dahlström (2002), Pliny was of the contrary opinion that the dracontias was a white, semitransparent gemstone, expensive and beautiful to the eye but without any special properties.

Coleman (2007) mentions the stone under the alternative name draconite. Manutchehr-Danai (2005) mentions a near-identical name, drakonite, as a not recommended term for Drachefels trachyte, an igneous volcanic rock from Drachenfels, Germany (which happens to be the location where Siegfried killed the dragon Fafnir in Nibelungenlied, a version of the Sigurd legend). Manutchehr-Danai (2005) further describes the dracontias under the alternative name of dragonite (not the video game monster); the description used is of a “rounded alluvial quartz pebble or a quartz crystal, which is dull and has lost its angular crystal form”. It is also mentioned that a misnomer of dragonite is dragomite.

Eyes

According to Roman scholar Pliny in his book Natural History, a dragon’s eyes can be made into an ointment that will ward of nightmares or other nighttime visions. (Wyly, 2002.) Dahlström (2002) also mentions this, with the addition that beside dragon’s eyes you also have to use dragon’s tongue, everything boiled in wine and oil, and the resulting ointment applied to the patient’s eyes. Finally, Hogarth (1979), mentions two prepared remedies with the same effect, dispersing troublesome “night-visions and apparitions”. The first involves boiling the dragon’s tongue, eyes, gall and intestines in wine and oil, cooling the result in nocturnal air, and then rubbing it on night and morning. The second, alternate remedy consists of keeping dragon’s eyes until they are stale, then beat them into an oil with honey added and using this as an ointment. (Writer’s Notes: Since both remedies related by Hogarth have the same effect and the only common ingredient between them is the dragon’s eyes, it could be inferred that the effective ingredient in the remedies regardless of any other ingredient were the dragon’s eyes.)

Fat

In the medieval Europe people believed that dragon’s fat dried in the sun was proof against creeping ulcers and could make poisonous creatures keep their distance. (Dahlström, 2002; Hogarth, 1979.) Dahlström (2002) uses the wording of “curing cancerous tumours” rather than “proof against creeping ulcers”; it is uncertain if this is could have been caused by a mistranslation from English into Dahlström’s native Swedish.

(Western) Dragon’s fat mixed with honey and oil cured dimness of the eyes, and an amulet made from the fat of a dragon’s heart wrapped in gazelle skin and tied to the upper arm by a deer sinew was said to ensure victory in lawsuits. (Hogarth, 1979.)

According to Chinese lore, if you took dragon’s fat and used it with a rope of asbestos fibers as a wick, the fat burned so brilliantly that it could be seen for a hundred miles. (Dahlström 2002; Hogarth, 1979.) Further Chinese lore claims that dragon’s fat could render silk garments waterproof. (Hogarth, 1979.)

Flesh

According to Hogarth (1979), the uses of Western dragon flesh were both specific and obscure. It was said to be very cold, and thus recommended as food for inhabitants of very hot countries, like Ethiope (a land with a widespread association with dragons in medieval lore). But Hogarth also describes that the reason dragon flesh was said to be very cold (rather than their reptilian ties) was because dragons had a need to cool themselves by drinking “the cold blood of elephants”, which was the cause for a “well-known” eternal enmity between dragons and elephants in old lore. (The writer of this article would like to point to the fact that as the largest land-living mammals in the world, living in Africa and India, the elephant is “warm-blooded” in probably more than one sense.)

Hogarth (1979) also describes that in Chinese lore, there is sometimes mentions of Eastern dragons being eaten. Appearently, a king of the Hsia dynasty, circa 2000 B.C., fed upon dragons to make his reign propitious. This use was probably derived from the Eastern dragons role as a bringer of good fortune rather than some perceived fact of the dragon’s physiology. (Though one would think that Eastern dragons would be less keen to bring good fortune if someone developed a habit of eating them.)

Head

According to Wyly (2002), the Roman scholar Pliny stated in his book Natural History that if you bury a dragon’s head underneath a threshold of a house, it will bring good luck. Hogarth (1979) corroborate this, stating that the dragon’s head, buried under a house, will bring good fortune to the household. Hogarth further states that this head burying keeps one from looking asquint, which presumably means that it prevents one from becoming squint-eyed.

Dahlström (2002) and Hogarth (1979) both describe a recipe that involved a dragon’s head and tail, along with the marrow of a lion, the paw of a dog and foam from the mouth of a victorious racehorse. According to Hogarth, the recipe is for an unguent of invincibility, while Dahlström states that the recipe is for a drug of invisibility. (Since Dahlström used Hogarth as a source for his own book, it might be that Dahlström made a misspelling.) Hogarth further states that it is probable that it is the process rather than the product which confirmed invincibility.

Heart

In the legend of Sigurd, after he had killed Fafnir, his mentor Regin told him to roast the dragon’s heart for Regin to eat. It is when Sigurd test if the roasting is done that he burns his finger and put it in his mouth, thereby ingesting some of the dragon’s blood that had been on the heart and learning the language of birds (sometimes worded as the language of all animals), and the birds in turn warned him of Regin’s plans of treachery.

Many retellings of the story doesn’t mention the heart again after that. In some version, it is mentioned that Sigurd himself eats the heart instead afterwards, but fails to mention if it has any sort of mystic effect on him (though Regin must have had some reason to want to eat the heart).

Finally, there is a version retold by Niles (2013) where, after having gained the ability to understand the language of birds by the dragon’s blood, Sigurd is told by the birds that if he ate the heart himself, he would gain “immortal wisdom”. In this version, instead of being informed of Regin’s treachery by the birds, Sigurd realized it himself after consuming the dragon’s heart and thus gaining wisdom. Why it would take immortal wisdom to realize Regin’s treacherous nature, one can not know (reading through many versions of the Sigurd legend might give one the impression that Sigurd was not that bright).

DeKirk (2006) tells a version of the story where Sigurd (here with the alternate name Siegfried), after learning of Regin’s plot from the birds and killing him, consumed the dragon’s heart, “gaining all the dragon’s power”. It is not explained in DeKirk’s account of what that entailed, however. (The last bit of the account tells how Sigurd proceeds to claim the dragon’s treasure from its cave.)

For more context and disclosure, it has to be mentioned that there seem to be mentions and versions of the Sigurd legend where Sigurd gain the knowledge of the language of birds (or all animals) not by consuming the dragon’s blood, but by consuming the dragon’s heart (Coleman, 2007; Grimm, 1883; W4). (These variants seems to be much less common than the variants where dragon’s blood fills the role, but they have been mentioned nonetheless.)

Hogarth (1979) tells another story of a dragon heart; in the Danish Hrolf’s Saga, a certain Bothvar fought a dragon, and one of his associates drank the dragon’s blood and ate its heart, and because of that, this associate became brave and strong. Conway (1994) tells the same story, except that only the dragon’s heart is mentioned and not it’s blood. That makes it a bit unclear if the effect of gaining bravery and strength is an effect of consuming the heart, the blood or of consuming them both at the same time.

Liver

According to Chinese lore, a dragon’s liver cured dysentry. A liver removed from a living dragon was especially effective. (Hogarth, 1979.)

Conway (1994) states that in European lore, the dragon’s liver cured certain diseases (which ones are not stated), as did various other parts (again, which ones are not stated).

Saliva

In Chinese lore, dragon saliva could be used in the manufacture of perfume. It was said to “bind camphor and musk for several tens of years without evaporating”, and to produce a blue smoke when burned. The saliva hardened to lumps in the sun, that were white when fresh, but with age turned to purple, then black. (Hogarth, 1979.) Hogarth (1979) thought it possible that what the Chinese took for dragon saliva was actually ambergris, a secretion from certain species of whales.

Foam

A Chinese legend states that an emperor of the Hsia dynasty (2205 to 1766 B.C) collected foam from the mouth of two dragons in a box. Fifteen centuries later, the box was opened, the foam overflowed throughout the palace and slowly turned into a new dragon, which in turn impregnated one of the wives of the then current emperor. The emperors descendants from that time claimed descent from the dragon itself. The foam in question is probably foam from dragon saliva since it was taken from dragon mouths, but it isn’t explicitly stated. (Wyly, 2002.)

Skin

Hogarth (1979) relate how the skin of the Western dragon was considered useful for cooling the passions of lovers. (Writer’s Notes: This effect might be related to the perceived coldness of reptiles, or with the perceived connection with dragon blood tree resin, which was extensively used in medieval love spells.)

A Chinese anecdote tells of a man who one dark night found a tree branch with the cast-off skin of a Eastern dragon, which glowed with a brilliant light. The skin was hollow inside, “yet felt solid, and when tapped, produced the sound of a precious stone.” (Hogarth, 1979.)

Teeth

The best known account about dragon’s teeth is probably the Greek stories of Cadmus and Jason sowing dragon’s teeth in the earth.

The Greek hero Cadmus slew a dragon, and the goddess Athena advised him to extract it’s teeth and sow them in the ground. When he did, the dragon’s teeth grew into armed warriors. Cadmus threw stones among them, which caused the warriors to fight each other until only five were left alive. These survivors became Cadmus followers and founded the noble families of Thebes, the city Cadmus was to establish in the area were he slew the dragon. (Hogarth, 1979.)

The same kind of story happened to the hero Jason, in his quest for the Golden Fleece. At one point, he came into possession of dragon’s teeth which he sowed in the earth. The teeth grew into warriors, who Jason tricked into killing each other by throwing stones among them. (Hogarth, 1979; Wyly, 2002.)

Descriptions of other uses of dragon’s teeth seem to exist in European lore. According to Roman scholar Pliny in his book Natural History, dragon’s teeth and vertebrae, when ground up and consumed, make people more susceptible to being commanded by their superiors. (Wyly, 2002.)

According to Hogarth (1979), (Western) dragon’s teeth wrapped in doeskin and tied on with deer sinew might make those in power gracious (presumably to the wearer).

According to Hogarth (1979) dragon’s teeth had “specific curative properties” in Chinese lore;

used against complaints “that kill the vital spirit; when adults have spasms and epileptic fits, convulsions or madness, when they run as madmen and their breath is tied under their heart, so that they cannot breathe; further, the five kinds of fits, and the twelve kinds of convulsions of babies.” They “quiet the heart and calm down souls,” cure headaches, liver disease, melancholy, hot fever, madness (again), and possession by  demons.

(Hogarth, 1979.)

As a side note, in Chinese lore dragon’s horns were counted to be equally useful as dragon’s teeth, inferring that both had the same effects in medicine. (Dahlström 2002; Hogarth, 1979.)

Tongue

According to Conway (1994), in European lore, eating a dragon’s tongue gave one eloquence and the ability to win any argument.

Dahlström (2002) mentions that dragon’s tongue and dragon’s eyes boiled in wine and oil creates a decoction or ointment that will ward of nightmares or other nighttime visions when applied to the eyes. Wyly (2002) talks about the same ointment with the same effect, though his account excludes the dragon’s tongue and mentions only the dragon’s eyes as part of its creation. He further mentions that this usage was written by the Roman scholar Pliny in his book Natural History. Finally, Hogarth (1979) relates how boiling the dragon’s tongue, eyes, gall and intestines in wine and oil, then cooling the result in nocturnal air and rubbing it on night and morning, dispersed troublesome “night-visions and apparitions”, the same effect as above. Hogarth (1979) further mentions an alternative remedy for the same problem, where one kept dragon’s eyes until they became stale, then beat them into an oil with honey added and used them as an ointment. (Writer’s Notes: Since both remedies related by Hogarth have the same effect and the only common ingredient between them is the dragon’s eyes, it could be inferred that the effective ingredient in the remedies regardless of any other ingredient were the dragon’s eyes.)

Sourceless information

There is a website (W1) that presents additional information or variations of facts already presented in this article. Since the website lacks references to sources in form of books, they are relayed here instead of elsewhere in the article, and they will be presented as short bullet points, divided between lore regarding Western dragons and lore regarding Eastern dragons.

In regards to Western dragons, the website (W1) states:

  • The dracontias (see Dracontias above) could cure poisons as well as detect them.
  • Night visions, nightmares, and apparitions could be warded off by various mixes of the parts of dragons.
  • Dragon fat and mixes therewith, could cure visual impairments, ulcers, and poisonous wounds.
  • A dragon’s head buried under the one’s house ensured that their family would never have vision problems. (Probably a reference to that burying a dragon’s head kept one from looking asquint, see Head above.)
  • Dragon heart fat, first vertebra, and teeth were all worn in order to give the bearer sway with people of power.

In regards to Eastern dragons, the website (W1) states:

  • Dragon bone was able to heal the “spiritual ailment” of being haunted by “old ghosts”. Thus, dragon bone was also believed to help with problems that were thought to be caused by demons or spiritual conflicts, which for example included epilepsy in children, cough, certain abdominal problems, heart problems and several gastrological problems.
  • Madness, certain kinds of spasms, epilepsy, and the inability to catch breath, perhaps best summarized as psychological or neurological problems, were all treated by using dragon’s teeth.
  • Dragon saliva was used as a base in perfumes (already mentioned under Saliva above), which according to the words on the website made some of the finest scents.
  • Dragon saliva was according to the website used for marking jade and gold, namely for statues.
  • There is a mention that dragon’s teeth were said to lengthen a person’s life span.
  • Dragon’s whiskers could be used to attract fish and increase catches, as well as for keeping flies away.

Afterword

The writer researched much material in the making of this article, from many mythologies. Some of it would not have been found if not for happenstance, so the writer assumes that there could be much more mythological and legendary “dragon part lore” out there that has not become part of this article. The writer welcomes any authentic bits of additional mythological, legendary or folkloric information regarding parts of dragons, which can be added to this article.

Source material

Books

  • Ananikian, Mardiros H. – The Mythology All Races vol. 7 (1916)
  • Coleman, J.A. – The Dictionary of Mythology An A-Z of Themes, Legends and Heroes (2007)
  • Conway, D.J. – Dancing with Dragons: Invoke Their Ageless Wisdom & Power (1994) [Not fully read.]
  • Dahlström, Åke – Draken – Fabeldjurens konung (2002) [Tr. “The Dragon – King of the Fabulous Beasts”]
  • Day, David – Tolkien’s Ring (2000)
  • DeKirk, Ash – Dragonlore – From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardy (2006)
  • Emeagwali, Gloria & Bekerie, Ayele – “Creation Myths of Africa” in Science, Religion, And Society [Edited by Eisen, Arri and Laderman, Gary] (2007)
  • Grimm, Jacob – Teutonic Mythology Vol. II (1883)
  • Hogarth, Peter – Dragons (1979)
  • Klaeber, Friedrich – Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg: Edited, with Introduction, Bibliography, Notes, Glossary, and Appendices (1950)
  • Mackenzie, Donald Alexander – Myths of China and Japan (1923)
  • Manutchehr-Danai, Mohsen – Dictionary of Gems and Gemology (2005)
  • Mercatante, Anthony S. & Dow, James R. – The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition (2009)
  • Niles, Doug – Dragons – The Myths, Legends and Lore (2013)
  • Wyly, Michael J. – Dragons (The Mystery Library) (2002)
  • Wägner, Wilhelm – Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages (1884)
  • Wägner, Wilhelm – Romances and Epics of our Northern Ancestors: Norse, Celt and Teuton (1907)

Links

Leave a comment

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started