The Dragon Stone

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Location:
Wales, Europe

Images:

Description:
The Welsh red dragon is one of the national symbols of Wales. It appears on the flag and in many other places. The city hall in Cardiff (capital of Wales) has a dragon on top of it. The dragon is also know as 'Y Ddraig Goch' and the Cadwaller / Cadwaladr dragon.

The Red and White Dragons
The King of Britain, Vortigern, was under attack from the Saxons. He decided to build a fortress at Snowdon, but the building work did not go well. The walls would keep falling down! He consulted with advisors who told him he needed to sacrifice a fatherless child.

A boy was found and he was brought to the King. The boy questioned the wisdom of killing him, saying that the problem would not be solved. He claimed that two dragons were fighting at an underground lake beneath the mountain. The dragons would have to be released to fight elsewhere before the fortress could be completed.

The King's advisors argued that the boy was just trying to save himself. The King decided to dig for the dragons. If the dragons were found, the boy would live and the advisors would be killed. If the dragons were not there, they would sacrifice the boy as they had planned. The digging did uncover the dragons. Though the white dragon had appeared to be winning at first, it was the red dragon who eventually won. The boy told Vortigern that the white dragon represented the Saxons and the red dragon the Britons.

This legend is originally known from the 'Historia Britonum', a work written soon after 820 AD. Later versions of this story said that the boy was Merlin (Myrddin Emrys).

Other Dragon Stone Pages:

• Public Domain Clipart: The Welsh Flag
• Examples of Dragons in Heraldry - Some more examples and details of the heraldic version of the dragon.

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