Editing European dragon (section)

====St George and the Dragon====
[[File:St George and the Dragon Verona ms 1853 26r.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Manuscript illustration from [[Verona]] of [[Saint George and the Dragon|Saint George slaying the dragon]], ([[northern Italy]]) dating to {{circa}} 1270]]
The legend of [[Saint George and the Dragon]] is recorded as early as the sixth century AD,{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=53}}{{sfn|Thurston|1909|pages=453–455}} but the earliest artistic representations of it come from the 11th century{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=53}} and the first full account of it comes from an 11th-century [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] text.{{sfn|Walter|2003|page=141}} The most famous version of the story from the ''[[Golden Legend]]'' holds that a dragon kept pillaging the sheep of the town of Silene in [[Ancient Libya|Libya]].{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=53}} After it ate a young shepherd, the people were forced to placate it by leaving two sheep as sacrificial offerings every morning beside the lake where the dragon lived.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=53}} Eventually, the dragon ate all of the sheep{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=54}} and the people were forced to start offering it their own children.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=54}} One day, the king's own daughter came up in the lottery and, despite the king's pleas for her life, she was dressed as a bride and chained to a rock beside the lake to be eaten.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=54}} Then Saint George arrived and saw the princess.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=54}} When the dragon arrived to eat her, he stabbed it with his lance and subdued it by making the sign of the cross and tying the princess's [[girdle]] around its neck.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=54}} Saint George and the princess led the now docile dragon into the town and George promised to kill it if the townspeople would convert to Christianity.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=55}} All the townspeople converted and Saint George killed the dragon with his sword.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=55}} In some versions, Saint George marries the princess,{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=55}} but, in others, he continues wandering.{{sfn|Niles|2013|page=55}}