La Tarasque

Ancient postcard showing the dragoness La Tarasque. (circa 1905)
En Provence - La Tarasque
LL. Selecta - Levy et Neurdein Reunis - 44, Rue Letellier - Paris.

However, I have found the story of the dragoness La Tarasque who ravaged the southern part of France, the Provence.

Long time ago a huge monster emerged from the sea and chose the river Rhone as its new home. It was a dragoness, half land mammal, half fish. She outsized twelve elephants, had teeth like swords and a skin like iron. Her father was the water dragon Leviathan, her mother the giant snake Onachus, and her name was Tarasque.

Wherever the beast appeared, she brought terror and destruction. All animals fled her. She destroyed houses, and her breath was flames. Many heroes tried to kill her, and perished. After seven years of ravage a farmer found the skin of the dragoness and considered her dead. But every seven years the Tarasque hat to slough, and the farmer had only found her cast-off skin.

Seven more years went by. The Tarasque had destroyed all bridges and devoured everyone who wanted to cross the river. At last the inhabitants of the troubled area tried to lure the dragonness into a trap. Near the town Avignon there was a deep swamp. Whoever got there was lost. So they bound animals to trees near the trail leading to the swamp. The beast followed this line of prey. But when she approached the trap, she turened around and fled back to the river: The swamp belonged to the realm of the devil, and being a creature of the devil herself, the Tarasque was warned.

Again seven years passed. Then one day Saint Martha happened to visit the area. When she heard of the beast, she went out to catch it - barefooted, in her white dress, with no other weapon than a jar of holy water. The dragonnes came out to devour her, but was banned solely by the power of the cross and the holy water. St. Martha led the beast to the town, where it was killed. The citizens errected a new church in honor of St. Martha, and the town changed its name to Tarascon.

A german version of this legend can be found in:
FRÜH, Sigrid (Hrsg. u. Vorw.) (1988):
Märchen vom Drachen.
Fischer TB Bd. 2875, 172 p., Frankfurt a./Main (Fischer).

© MCMXCVI by J. Georg Friebe
Custos Musei Naturalis Historiae Vorarlbergensis, Dornbirn (Austria) last update 29.06.1997

http://members.tripod.com/~gfriebe/drach.htm

To HiddenMysteries Internet Book Store

Search Query

Search this Reptilian Agenda Website

HiddenMysteries and/or the donor of this material may or may not agree with all the data or conclusions of this data.
It is presented here 'as is' for your benefit and research. Material for these pages are sent from around the world. Reptilian Agenda Website is a publication of TGS Services
Please direct all correspondence to
TGS HiddenMysteries, c/o TGS Services,
22241 Pinedale Lane, Frankston, Texas, 75763

All Content © HiddenMysteries - TGS (1998-2005)
HiddenMysteries.com Internet Store ~ HiddenMysteries Information Central
Texas National Press ~ TGS Publishers Dealers Site
All Rights Reserved

Please send bug reports to info@hiddenmysteries.org

FAIR USE NOTICE. This site may at times contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

United States Code: Title 17, Section 107 http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/107.shtml Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include - (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.