Interview:

G: “So St. George [pause] well i dont know what order this happened in, but St George was a Roman soldier, and he was told to start killing people who were Catholic, and then the king tortured him and killed him.
At some point there was, in a town, there was a dragon. And he would come every day and they would pull straws for who he would take. And then St. George came and killed it, and i think saved a princess.”

Interviewer: “Is this a true story, do you think, or more of a fairy tale? Do you think there have ever been dragons?”

G: “Yes. Yes, but not like real dragons, maybe the devil.”

Context: The informant comes from a Catholic family. He first learned the story from his mother.

Analysis: There are some interesting similarities between the Legend with the dragon, and the more plausible story of St George’s Martyrdom, with both stories centering around George confronting a powerful force of evil to stop the slaughter of innocents. Perhaps the story of the dragon emerged as a metaphor for the emperor Diocletian, who is said to have put St. George to death.