Today I’ll be discussing the lindworm, a serpent-like dragon which features prominently in European mythology, usually Germanic or Scandinavian. The name, in fact, has Germanic roots and can be translated to “ensnaring serpent”. The dragon also regularly made appearances in medieval heraldry. Below is the story The Lindworm Prince, which originally hailed from Scandinavia.
Once upon a time there was a benevolent king and queen who longed to have a child of their own. One day, out on a walk, the queen met an old sorceress. This old woman instructed the sovereign to put a two-handled chalice in the corner of her garden. The next morning there would be two roses — a white and red one. If the queen ate the white one, then she would give birth to a princess. If she swallowed the red one then she would have a prince. The old woman parted with these words, “Never eat both of them!”
The queen did as she had been told. Sure enough, two roses appeared the next morning. She decided to eat the white rose but when she tasted it, she was overcome with greed, and devoured the red one as well.
The queen did indeed give birth, but the first child was a hideous serpent-like monster which slithered away, but…
