Dragon Collectibles – The Dragon and the Merchant.
Sep 12th, 2009 by admin
Imagine how life was about 2,500 years ago. If you were a merchant during this time, you had a pretty small group of customers. You sold your wares to the people within about a day’s walk. If you were a trader who owned a ship, you could sell more. Dragon Collectibles imagines a merchant was trying to find ways to sell his wares. One day he meets a trader from another land. The merchant and trader become fast friends, trading stories and drinking at the local establishment.
When it came time for the trader to set sail for his home, he invites the merchant to load up his wares and travel with him. Our merchant, always looking for a bigger and better market, takes the trader up on his offer. After weeks at sea the ship arrives in trader’s homeland. The merchant is amazed with the hustle and bustle of this port city.
After a couple of days of selling his wares, his trader friend tells him of a village a short distance away. He tells him the people there would love what he is selling. That it would be a great place for him to find merchandise to purchase before the trip back to his land. The merchant decides this would be a great idea, packs up and hits the road. This is a wondrous land with many things the merchant has never seen before. He is enjoying the walk and taking in the sites as he travels when he hears a rustling noise coming from the underbrush. He stops to listen, hears the rustling again, decides to go closer to the bushes to investigate. When, all of a sudden, bursting from the undergrowth coming straight at him is a giant frilled lizard. Startled, the merchant runs. After a few strides, he looks over his shoulder and finds the frilled lizard is not chasing him any longer. It is standing by the side of the road, hissing and acting very menacing. He remembers the stories of the dragons in this land. Having never seen such a creature before he quickly decides, this must be a baby dragon, and it would be wise to leave it alone. Heart pounding, he decides to head back to the port city.
Dragon Collectibles wonders if this could be how a great dragon legend started. Let us assume for the moment, frilled lizards could have been much bigger 2,500 years ago. History tells us that the average height of people in general was less than today. Our merchant, not wanting to look the fool will embellish the story he tells of the encounter. Think of a small child being told the story of the horrific encounter by his Grand Father. Good old Grand Father holds his hand up next to small grandchild, indicating the dragon figure was as a bit taller than the child. Now that image of the dragon being taller stays with the child. That child grows up and tells the story to his grandkids, the difference being now the dragon figure is taller than the adult telling the tale.
I think an encounter with a 15 foot King Cobra would make an even bigger tale. Thus, a Dragon is born. Generations of storytelling, with the embellishments that happen over time would turn a chance encounter with an everyday animal into a Great Dragon Collectibles legend.