we are able to submit it to psychological analysis and
determine the course of its development and the significance of every
incident in its tortuous rambling.

In instituting these comparisons between the development of myths and
dreams, I should like to emphasize the fact that the interpretation of
the _myth_ proposed in these pages is almost diametrically opposed to
that suggested by Freud, and pushed to a _reductio ad absurdum_ by his
more reckless followers, and especially by Yung.

The dragon has been described as "the most venerable symbol employed in
ornamental art and the favourite and most highly decorative motif in
artistic design". It has been the inspiration of much, if not most, of
the world's great literature in every age and clime, and the nucleus
around which a wealth of ethical symbolism has accumulated throughout
the ages. The dragon-myth represents also the earliest doctrine or
systematic theory of astronomy and meteorology.

In the course of its romantic and chequered history the dragon has been
identified with all of the gods and all of the demons of every religion.
But it is most intimately associated with the earliest stratum of
divinities, for it has been homologized with each of the members of the
earliest Trinity, the Great Mother, the Water God, and the Warrior Sun
God, both individually and collectively. To add to the complexities of
the story, the dragon-slayer is also represented by the same deities,
either individually or collectively; and the weapon with which the hero
slays the dragon is also homologous both with him and his victim, for it
is animated by him who wields it, and its powers of destruction make it
a symbol of the same power of evil which it itself destroys.

Such a fantastic paradox of contradictions has supplied the materials
with which the fancies of men of every race and land, and every stage of
knowledge and ignorance, have been playing for all these centuries. It
is not surprising, therefore, that an endless series of variations of
the story has been evolved, each decked out with topical allusions and
distinctive embellishments. But throughout the complex tissue of this
highly embroidered fabric the essential threads of the web and woof of
its foundation can be detected with surprising constancy and regularity.

Within the limits of such an account as this it is obvious that I can
deal only with the main threads of the argument and leave the
interesting details of