Book of Dragons

Given that dragons can fly, colonizing the Earth has been easy for them. Dragon species may be found in any region with the right habitat.

European Dragon:
Lair or Nest: a mountain or sea, cave , woodland.
Dimension: 45 feet long, 13 to 17 feet high.
Coloration: red, green, black, brown, greenish blue or gold.

Arctic-to Antarctic Frost Dragon:
Lair or Nest: sea, cave, glacier, iceberg.
Dimension: 40 feet long, 12 to 15 feet high.
Coloration: white or white tinged with blue or pink.

Features of the European dragon:
Arrowhead tail – hardened for use in fighting, thick spines, large bat like wings, clawed talons, scales, horns, fanged teeth.

Asian Tibetan Dragon:
Lair or Nest: Himalaya mountains .
Dimensions: 40 feet long, 10 to 12 feet high.
Coloration: almost invariable red.

Empty steppes of the Asian Interior, Dragon:
Lair or Nest: a shallow scratch or nest in the earth, out of the wind.
Dimension: 35 feet long, 8 to 10 feet high.
Coloration: usually green, pale orange, or sandy yellow.

Asian Chinese Dragon:
Lair or Nest: near rivers, streams, lakes, underwater cave or grotto.
Dimension: 40 feet long, 12 to 15 feet high.
Coloration: blue, black, white, red , or yellow.

Features of the Chinese Dragon:
Long, whiskery feelers, stag like horns, mane, five toes on each claw, large scales, feathery tail.

African Dragon:
Lair or Nest: a rocky crag, or an area of sand dunes or grass.
Dimension: 50 feet long, 18 to 20 feet high.
Coloration: muddy brown to lime green.

American Dragon:
Lair or Nest: among the reeds on lakesides or offshore island.
Dimension: 45 feet long, 5 to 10 feet high.
Coloration: green.

Features of the American Dragon:
Hypersensitive eyesight, feathery frill around head, legless, serpentine body, very large wings feathery tail.

Australian Dragon:
Lair and Nest: rocky caves, Blue Mountain eucalyptus forests.
Dimensions: 25 feet long, 15 to 18 feet high.
Coloration: green or blueish.
Australian Dragon is a marsupial dragon, it breathes blue smoke .

When studying dragons, remember the dangers, and remember that it is only through increasing your knowledge that you will learn the best ways of studying them. At all time be silent about your work. At all time be secret and subtle. Do not discuss dragons with people who do not believe in them , or with those merely seek to amuse themselves. Work only with those who share your passion. Then one day the world may at last learn to accept the honorable science of dragonology.
(Book of Dragons by Dr. Ernest Drake)

Dragons being magical creatures, it is not surprising that there is magic associated with them. It is not understood by scientist why these spells and charms work, and there may be elements in them such as the magic words. We must conclude that magic is simply science that no one understands yet.
As an aside on matters magical , we should refer to the talisman of Master Merlin. The talisman is kept by a dragon that will lend it in exchange for answering a lost riddle. What follows are the words of the talisman spell:
“Nine times lives hath lived the cat
And ninety nights are nine by ten,
And ounces from nine pounds of fat,
Nine times hath pecked the Dorking hen,
So nine times nine I’ll call to thee,
Ninth of those none, come thou to me.”
Repeat this verse eight times, holding the talisman aloft, and at the ninth a dragon will appear. Then offer forth the talisman.

Dragons are great lovers of riddles. The rules are simple. Ask a riddle in turn until one of you cannot answer.

1. The riddle of the Sphinx-What goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?

2. Only one color, but not one size,
Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies,
Present in sun, but not in rain,
Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.

3.What force and strength cannot get through
I with a gentle touch can do,
And many in the street would stand
Were I not a friend at hand.

4.Round like an apple, deep like a cup,
Yet all the king’s horses can’t pull it up.

5.Old Mother Twitchet had one eye,
And a long tail that she let fly,
And every time she went through a gap,
She left a bit of her tail in the trap.

6.Long legs, bandy thighs,
A little head, and no eyes.

7.In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple does appear.
No doors are there to this stronghold
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

8.Black we are, and much admired,
Men seek for us if there’re tired.
We tire the horse, but comfort man,
Tell me this riddle if you can.

9.As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
10.A hill-full, a hole-full,
You can not catch a bowl-full.

11. Little Nancy Etticoat,
In a white petticoat,
And a red nose.
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows.

12.Black within and red without,
With four corners round about.

Answers:
1. Riddle of the Sphinx- a person
2.Only one color- a shadow
3. What force- a key
4.Round like an apple- a well
5.Old Mother Twitchet- a needle and thread
6.Long legs, bandy thighs- a pair of tongs
7.In marble walls- an egg
8.Black we are- coal
9. As I was going to St. Ives-one
10.A hill-full- fog or mist
11. Little Nancy Etticoat- a candle
12. Black within- a chimney

( Dragons by Ernest Drake)