The Dragon Stone

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Location:
Ludham and St. Benet's Abbey, Norfolk, England

Images:

Description:
The village of Ludham was being pestered by a dragon. It made its home in a hole in the ground. Every night, it would come out and cause trouble. The villagers soon avoided going out at night because of the dragon. Some of the villagers tried to fill in the entrance to the dragon's hole during the day, using odd bits of rock and stone. As night came, the dragon would dig its way out and carry on as usual.

This continued until one day when the dragon decided to come out in daylight. A quick-thinking man from the village moved a large, round stone into the entrance to the dragon's den. When the dragon returned, it could not move the stone. It left Ludham and found a new home in the vaults of the ruins of Saint Benet's Abbey. There the dragon remained and apparently caused no more problems.

This is an unusual dragon folktale for this area, in that noone dies... the dragon and any would-be dragon slayers all survive. There is no known reason why this story is different.

Selected References: Simpson, Jacqueline (1980); Whitlock, Ralph (1983)

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