- Origin
- France
- Source
- Dragon: A Natural History
- Dr. Karl Shuker
- Simon & Schuster: New York, 1995
- The story is part of the segment entitled
"The Guivre and the
Gargouille"
- The Story
- From the waters of the Seine, a monster with a great scaled head
appears one day and starts mercilessly satureating the land until the
entire region is flooded. The Archbishop of Rouen, St. Romain, with one
volunteer, a prisoner on the death roll, sets out to conquer the monster.
When St. Romain confronts the monster, he places two fingers one
against another, forming a cross. This gesture immediately tames the
Gargouille. It is led submissively back in town and burned to death.
- Comments
- The story of the Gargouille is found in the "Serpent Dragons" section
of this collection of dragon stories. The Gargouille is described as a
colossal monster with a long neck, a slender snout and eyes greaming like
moonstones. It is also claimed that the word "gargoyle" is derived from the
name of this monster, borrowing both its shape and the water spouting
trait. The taming process is very similar between this and the
story of The Tarasque.
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Introduction/Index