But the old hermit said, "The Fairy Queen has sent you to do brave deeds in this world. That high City that you see is in another world. Before you climb the path to it and hang your shield on its wall, go down into the valley and fight the dragon that you were sent to fight."
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Apparently, the legend of St. George and the Dragon is an old one "going back to the 7th century at least," but Margaret Hodges based her beautiful narrative on Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queen which began to be published in 1590.
This passage has stayed in my mind ever since I first read it.
I've been learning a lot about dragons recently. I was unfortunately brought up sheltered from them. I don't identify fully with Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I see now that I was also brought up with the wrong books:
"Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon's lair, but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons."
The first time I heard someone talk about the value of fairy tales for children, I was skeptical. And then I read some old fairy tales, and I was even more skeptical. And then I heard some more arguments (including this fabulous talk by Angelina Stanford), and I decided to read a few to my children. I was still not fully sure I was doing the right thing so I was careful to not read any too gruesome ones at first. But let me tell you, I was amazed. To say that they loved these old stories in 100 year old English in a dusty, hardcover book with zero illustrations (at 5 and 4) is to say the least.
C.S. Lewis says this (as quoted in this article - which I highly recommend):
"But in making this objection, some mean that 'we must try to keep out of [the child's] mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil.' But we are born into a world like that, and hiding it from children actually handicaps them. 'Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage...Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end of the book'"
St. George and the Dragon is one of the most wonderful examples of what C.S. Lewis was referring to. The power in the message of this book leaves us speechless - and I'm not just referring to the children here. "Before you climb to [that high city] and hang your shield on its wall, go down into the valley and fight the dragon you were sent to fight."
I've been quoting this to myself all week, folks. Every time I had to clean up another round of dishes; get up and discipline another child; sweep the floor again; wipe the spots off my white, tile floor; help my husband address envelopes... this is what I've been thinking about.
"Fight the dragon you were sent to fight."
This passage has stayed in my mind ever since I first read it.
I've been learning a lot about dragons recently. I was unfortunately brought up sheltered from them. I don't identify fully with Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I see now that I was also brought up with the wrong books:
"Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon's lair, but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons."
The first time I heard someone talk about the value of fairy tales for children, I was skeptical. And then I read some old fairy tales, and I was even more skeptical. And then I heard some more arguments (including this fabulous talk by Angelina Stanford), and I decided to read a few to my children. I was still not fully sure I was doing the right thing so I was careful to not read any too gruesome ones at first. But let me tell you, I was amazed. To say that they loved these old stories in 100 year old English in a dusty, hardcover book with zero illustrations (at 5 and 4) is to say the least.
C.S. Lewis says this (as quoted in this article - which I highly recommend):
"But in making this objection, some mean that 'we must try to keep out of [the child's] mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil.' But we are born into a world like that, and hiding it from children actually handicaps them. 'Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage...Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end of the book'"
St. George and the Dragon is one of the most wonderful examples of what C.S. Lewis was referring to. The power in the message of this book leaves us speechless - and I'm not just referring to the children here. "Before you climb to [that high city] and hang your shield on its wall, go down into the valley and fight the dragon you were sent to fight."I've been quoting this to myself all week, folks. Every time I had to clean up another round of dishes; get up and discipline another child; sweep the floor again; wipe the spots off my white, tile floor; help my husband address envelopes... this is what I've been thinking about.
"Fight the dragon you were sent to fight."
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