On Tue, 23 Apr 1996 20:15:25 +0100 (BST) CA. Muessig wrote:
> From: CA. Muessig <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 20:15:25 +0100 (BST)
> Subject: FEAST 23 APRIL
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Today, 23 April, is the feast of ...
>
> Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus, martyrs (212)
>
> George, martyr, protector of the kingdom of England (303): Throughout
> Europe in the later middle ages the *Legenda Aurea* rendition of the story
> of St George was the best known. William Caxton translated the work. In
> this translation St George's encounter with the halitosisian dragon is
> related: One day St George came upon a city near a marshy swamp. In the
> swamp lived a dragon which envenomed all the country. The people had
> mustered together to kill it, but the dragon's breath was so bad that all
> the people ran away. To prevent the dragon coming closer to the city they
> fed it two sheep each day (I hope they included mint, it's good for bad
> breath and it goes well with mutton!). But when the people no longer had
> any sheep, they had no choice but to feed the dragon a human being. The
> victim was selected by lot, and the lot had fallen on the king's daughter.
> No one was willing to take her place, and the maiden had gone forth
> dressed as a bride to meet her doom. Then St George rode into town. Coming
> upon the princess making her way toward the beast, he attacked the dragon
> and impaled it on his lance.
>
>The dragon seems to be attached to St George by confusion with the Perseus and Andromeda
story. George and Perseus are the two heroes of the same town, Lydda in Palestine. It would
appear that the good folk of Lydda got their two local heroes a mite mixed up. - The Supple Doctor.
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