ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28257, 20 April 1957, Page 6

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

But it was left to Rudyard Kipling to depict the sequel to the Bible story of the Prodigal.

Here come I to my own again, Fed, forgiven and known again. Claimed by bone of my bone again, And sib to flesh of my flesh; The fatted calf is dressed for me. But the husks have greater zest for me, I think my pigs will be best for me, So I’m off to the styes afresh.

According to the legend, there was in Libya 1650 years ago a city on the outskirts of which was a pond or marshy swamp. This swamp became infested with a horrible dragon which envenomed all the surrounding country. Whenever the people gathered themselves for an attack upon the monster, they were driven off by the fire and nasty smells which it emitted. It was also said that, when the dragon approached the walls of the city, it poisoned anybody who was within range of its breath. To induce the beast to stay away, the people were obliged to furnish it with two sheep daily. When the supply of sheep was nearly exhausted, the citizens had to satisfy its voracity by sending their sons and daughters to it. The victims were selected by lot One day, the lot fell upon the King’s own daughter who, clothed in royal robes, was sent forth to her doom. A Valiant Knight It so happened, however, that a valiant Christian knight named George was passing on his horse, fully-armed, just as the tearful maiden was about to meet her end. Commending himself to God, this knight transfixed the dragon with his spear. The life of the maiden was saved. The dragon was led

into the city and cut into pieces before the eyes of the people. Thus they were rid of the terror which for long had troubled them. As a further result of that encounter, it is recorded that 15,000 men (excluding women and children) were baptised into the Christian faith.

Many were the treasures which were offered to the knight for his valiant and valuable service. In refusing all rewards, he -however, left four behests with the King:— (a) That he should maintain the Christian Churches. (b) That he should honour the priests.

(c) That he should himself regularly attend Divine Worship. (d) That he should show compassion to the poor. That, in brief, is the story of St. George and the Dragon. As the years went by, many other acts and miracles were attributed to him. Because he publicly proclaimed his faith in Christ, his persecutors tried to injure him by scourging, by poisoning, and by pouring molten lead upon him. But all in vain. As to those and many other similar acts, are they not all set forth in both Butler’s and Baring Gould’s “Lives of. the Saints” in the April volume under date 23?

Reason? for Acceptance There are three main reasons why the story of the slaying of the dragon by St. George should have gripped the imagination of people who lived in the Middle Ages. (1) The event is alleged to have occurred about 300 years after the birth of Christ, just on the eve of the triumph of Christianity, when the new religion was being adopted by certain rulers and realms which became known as Christendom. Credulous and nnleamed people who accepted the new faith were prone to accept all the legendary lore associates with it. (2) In medieval times, the Christian religion was inseparably associated with the fear of evils both present and to come. The sacred writings attributed all evils to animate beings such as Satan, the Devil, a beast, or a dragon’ The Book of Revelation gives Si John s description of “the dragoi that old serpent the Devil.” The Bible was not printed, but the people doubtless discussed among themselves the oral accounts of this vision from the Apocalypse. How easy, therefore, was it for them to believe that a dragon of that poisonous and voracious nature had actually lived In Libya, especially if the pond Itself was an evil-smelling rubbish dump which today would engage the attention of the health authorities. (3) The third reason for the

Modern Parallel To Heroic Legend [Bg O. C. MAZENGARB, Q.C., L.L.D.] *T'HE legend of St. George and the Dragon has become famous through the ages. Perhaps Englishmen are becoming inclined to take St. George too much for granted. Reference to the legend may have had the same effect as the overfrequent reference in churches to the parable of the Prodigal Son. Thousands of sermons have been {(reached about that unworthy boy. Sometimes a ittle is said in praise of the dutiful son who did not respond, as did his wayward brother, to the call of the wild.

ready acceptance of the legend arises from the fact that, somehow or another, the people of the Middle Ages had assumed that the year 1000 would mark the Day of Judgment and the end of the world. Had not St. John dreameo that after 1000 years the dragon would be loosed for a little sea son?

That tenth century had been a sterile period in the history of the world. From the artistic and productive viewpoint its closing years were wasted because so many people were just waiting with the hope of being received into the heavenly choirs. Fateful Year

But the fateful year 1000 dawned and came to its close and still the sound of the last trumpet was not heard. After allowing 33 more years in case the state of affairs which St John had pictured was not to be reached until 1000 years after the death of Christ the pent-up religious fervour of the people found expression in the building of abbeys, monasteries, temples, and cathedrals to the glory of God who had saved the world from the unutterable destruction which they had expected would come upon it in the year 1000. Don’t laugn at them! There are thousands of people today whose minds are centred upon the probable destruction of the world by a hydrogen bomb or by some other means known to the scientists. St. George was more than an ecclesiastical saint. He was adopted as the patron saint of Aragon, Portugal and England. Whatever happened about him in Spain and Portugal, it is indubitable that the Englishman’s regard for his memory became great and

greater as the years rolled on. Various places of interest were named in his honour—St. George’s Chapel, St. George’s Channel, St. George’s Bay, capes, hills, towns —and even hotels.

The ever-increasing appreciation of the spirit of St George assumed a fresh meaning when a new system of coinage was introduced into England at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The famous medallion of “St. George and the Dragon” was adopted for the golden sovereigns and for other English coins which were minted as a new coinage from 1817 onwards. The design ' 7 as intended as an allegorical reminder to British people chat, under the spirit or aegis of St. George, Englishmen had slain another dragon which had been roaming Europe and terrifying England for more than a decade. This new silent message on the coinage could be expressed in the words which Shakespeare put into the mouth of King John— This England never did, nor never shall. Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror. . . . Naught shall make us rue If England to herself do rest but true. For more than 100 years that design appeared on coins printed in India, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Occasionally since then it has reappeared on proof coins and souvenirs marking the silver jubilee of King George V, the coronation of King George VI, and even on some special coinage during the recent Festival of Britain. What a pity it is that our currency does not. now depict St. George and the Dragon. Is this because those who are responsible for the issue of token coinage and folding money, simply have not the heart to put such a noble conception on a debased and depreciating currency? Are we approaching the stage at which the Reserve Bank of New Zealand may find it appropriate to design for its money a racehorse, with a jockey where St George used to be, and the TA..B. rampant?

Spirit Exemplified Although the design of St. George and the Dragon was withdrawn from our coinage after the First World War, the spirit which it portrayed was fully exemplified in the life of Sir Winston Churchill. It goes without saying that through him, more than through anyone else, England and the Empire were saved from the dragon of Hitlerism. At every stage in a great nation’s history there must be a symbolic hero to give hope and encouragement to its people. With Christianity and the spirit of St. George, the dragons of feudalism and slavery were slain. Then came the industrial revolution. This was the era of the inventor who designed tools and machines to produce more and to relieve men of so much hard labour. Unfortunately, the inventor was also able to produce submarines and

bombers to destroy the lives of the very men whom his other inventions were designed to help.

Winston Churchill then . became our hero to slay the destroyer. He has now left the centre of the stage in an era when the scientist and the technologist, have become the harbingers of plenty. But just as the inventor was able to destroy as well as to create, so the modern technologist, in the person of the physicist, has shown that the H bomb can in a moment destroy what has taken years to create. We of this generation are now witnessing a resurgence of the old, old conflict between good and evil, or, as the Scriptures put it, between Christ and anti-Christ. We will need a hero to rouse the nation. Where are we to find him? Are we British people content to let world leadership pass to the United States as the nation better equipped technologically to transfix the dragon?

Menace of Communism Things are now happening in the East and the near North which should give us pause. The whole of the Western World—and particularly people in the United States and in lands under the Southern Cross—are fearing the menace of communism. They fear not only its external physical acts, but also the psyehological effects of its philosophy within their own gates. Unfortunately we are divided in opinion aS to how best to meet this menace. There are some hopeful people who like to believe that all dragons are not as bad as others suppose them to be. Kenneth Grahame, once wrote a phantasy about a reluctant dragon which had been discovered outside a cave on one of the hills of England. The villagers became afraid and were preparing an attack when a trusting boy began to assure them that the dragon had a pleasant way with him and would not trouble them if he were given a few suppers and allowed to enjoy the sunshine in the mornings.

Peril of Dragon The time is therefore overdue when strong public attention should be directed to the peril of the dragon—that old serpent the devil. There are many wellmeaning politicians, clergymen, and other Christian persons who like to think of the dragon as the boy did in Kenneth Grahame’s story.

Such people would do better if they pondered the salient points in the legend of the Dragon:— (1) The dragon is a mystical beast well regarded in the East. (Where did communism arise?) (2) The legendary dragon spat fire and emitted a poisonous breath from which the people had to recoil. (We don’t like the breath of communism, do we? Do not some trade unionists tell us that it has poisoned trade unionism in England, Australia, and New Zealand ) (3) The dragon had an omnivorous appetite/ and could be appeased only by Tegular gifts of sheep and then of human, beings. (What have we already giveh to keep the peace in the-East?) (4) The dragon, both mystically and in fact, has always been the enemy of Christendom. (What has happened to the Church and Christian religion in all those countries which have come under the sway of communism?) (5) There is only .one way to deal with a dragon and that is to slay it. (Are we equipped to meet the challenge of communism?) Some of you may be thinking that the Western World has already given way too much to communism, that lovers of freedom are too easy-going towards its materialistic philosophy and that we should not countenance the sending of delegations to Peking and other Communist fields. Since the beginning of World War II many nations have lost all they knew of liberty and all they knew of freedom to worship—by submitting to the will of the Communists.

It is one thing for nations to confer and give up territory, and possessions, because it is right to do so. It is quite another thing when Christian nations give up because they are afraid of the consequences, or because so many of their own people are impregnated with a materialistic philosophy which is not far removed from communism. Rudyard Kipling once wrote a poem called “Dane-geld.” Do let us profit from the warnings of this poem.

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say:— Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you, We will therefore poy you cash to go away. It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say:— We nexer pay anyone Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that plays it is lost!