Here There Be Dragons

I heard that when maps of the world were still being developed, and lands were still being discovered, any unknown area was marked with the words: "Here there be dragons." I found that so fascinating.

Here there be dragons

Here there be danger.

Here there be demons,

And even things much stranger.

Unknown sounds

Are heard all around;

And the lamb is dead by it's manger.

Here there be ghosts

That hide in the shadows.

And here there be tigers

That prowl among the meadows.

Strange voices 

Call in the night.

The air reeks with the smell of fright.

Here there be dragons

And here there be danger.

Here...

It's home to things even much stranger.

Author's Note

Thoughts, comments, requests.

Reviews

[Aeternal Oceanfire]

I like dragons. And trains, yes, I like trains....

This is just AWESOME!!! Anything fantasy is brilliant!

[Bryan Micheni]

it has a very nice ethereal appeal to it, just keeps on attracting deeper and deeper.

[R J Askew]

Cracking stuff. I have always loved that phrase. And on old maps they wld draw in little pics of sailing ships and strang sea creatures popping up in the big oceans through which they were heading.

Also when they went to Africa hundreds of years ago, no one in Europe knew what a giraffe was cos no one had seen one. This was how it went when the explorer came back and described one to his Prince

Prince: So what was this thang like?
Explorer: A bit like a camel with a sort of humped back, but not a camel
Prince: Tell me more. What colour is this new and marvellous monster?
Explorer: It has spots, my liege, all over it, big spots.
Prince: Bless me, Marco! A little like a leopard?
Explorer: Yes, my liege! Just so!
Prince: So, it is like a camel, but like a leopard?
Explorer: Yes, my liege a camel and a leopard! You are just soooooo right!
Prince: And does it have a name, this, this ... cameleopard?
Explorer: Yes, my liege, that is it! Cameleopard, tis a cameleopard!

And that, believe it or not, is what they first called a giraffe when the sailors came back with the their wild tales of monsters and dragons.

Prince: Take him away! Behead him! He mocks me with monsters n dragons!
Explorer: My liege, my liege! The Spanish silver I won for you! O my liege send me back! Ten cameleopards shall be yours!
Prince: Wait... Will you bring me back one alive?
Explorer: Anything, my liege, anything!