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Welsh Dragon.
Welsh Dragon.

It was three thousand years ago that some welsh hunters made a fire to cook the wild deer that they had caught while hunting. The fire was made as always. They got stones and placed them in a circle to keep the flames from setting the woods on fire. On this day the only stones available were black and shiny. They did not know it but the stones were really pieces of coal that had been eroded from out of the side of a mountain.

To their surprise the stones burnt with the wood and gave off a good heat. This was the first time that man had burned coal. The coal stayed in their heads and they went looking for it. Soon they found where the coal had been loosened from a seam of coal that ran into the mountain. With axes made from the antlers of the stags they found that they could get the coal from the mountain the early hunters founded thus the first coal works.

Men made a living by digging it from the mountains and exchanging it for food and tools. Soon nearly every village had its own coal fires for cooking. It was hard work for the early men and women to dig the coal from the earth and they looked for a means to get the coal more easily. Some of the hunters trapped and caught a Dragon. The Dragon was very strong and the men trained it to dig out the coal with its front feet. The Dragons feet were very suitable as the toes were long and pointed and made a good digging tool. It was now easier to get the coal from the mountain.

The Dragon was at the time it was caught covered in shiny black scales and the coal that it dug being black it did not look out of place. The Dragon dug coal for twenty long years and was getting too old to dig the coal from the mountain. This meant that the men had to let the Dragon go as it took too much to feed it. They ungratefully drove the Dragon from the mine and dug out the coal themselves. The Dragon now pleased to be free went off into the large forests that covered Wales in those far off days.

All went well with the Dragon it managed to get enough to eat and the rain soon washed the dust of the coal from his black shiny scales. Soon
The Fairies found the dragon its claws on its front feet were in a terrible state through scratching and digging out the coal. They felt sorry for it and looked after the dragon for a few years. Soon its claws got better and the Fairies were afraid that the men would catch it again and put it back in the mine to dig for coal.

The Fairies came up with a plan they would paint the Dragon a bright red in that way he would be easy to be seen and no man would dare to touch him as he was under the care of the Fairies. This meant that the dragon could be seen from far away and the men of Wales knew better that to capture a red Dragon as the Fairies have some real nasty ways of punishing anyone that went against their laws. Now in Wales there was a red Dragon roaming the hills and mountains no one interfered with it and soon people began to say that the Dragon brought them luck and it was decided to make flags with pictures of the Dragon on them. The flags were to be coloured white for the sky and green for the woods and in the middle was the proud red Dragon. This flag has been waving for a very long time. It is still used in Wales and many a soldier has fought under the flag of the red Dragon.

Today the flag is still used although there are no more Dragons to roam the earth like they used to do. The Welsh People are very proud of their Red Dragon and one finds it on many papers that are printed. Most Welsh Schools use the Red Dragon as their emblem.

By bern

© 2007 bern (All rights reserved)


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