- Origin
- France
- Source
- The Drac: French Tales of Dragons and Demons
- By Felice Holman and Nanine Valen
- Drawings by Stephen Walker
- Scribner's Sons, New York: 1975
- The Story
- The Tarasque cannot be destroyed by mere human strength or weapons.
The people in Nerluc have suffered many years until Martha, the girl with
a quiet disposition and a Christian, comes to spread the words of God to
the pagan people. She listens to the stories of the Tarasque and sets
out, bear-footed, to search the dragon. When she finds the dragon, she
uses two sticks as a cross and that stops the dragon as if it is pierced
by a sword. She sprinkles holy water on the dragon and that quenches all
the fire in him. She uses his sharp tooth to cut off her braids and
using the braids as a bridle, leads him back in town, tame as a lamb.
The townspeople kills the Tarasque with a shower of stones and Martha
weeps for the creature but forgives the people's action because she
understands their long-time suffering.
- Comments
- This male dragon is enormous. His body is most like an ox but with
six short bear-like legs with enormous claws. On his body he has two
shields like those of a turtle but covered with curved spikes, and the
rest of his body is covered with closely overlapping scales that formed
his armor. His tail is long and curved like a scorpion. His head is
that of a lion, yet with a horse's ears, but his face, with eyebrows and
mustache, is that of a sad and bitter old man. The Tarasque is described
as an evil fire-breathing beast. The other monster similarly tamed, also
originates from France, is The Gargouille, even though the later is an
aquatic dragon.
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Introduction/Index