Tradition / Region: British Mythology
Alternate Names: The Mordiford Dragon
Category: Dragon, Wyvern
The Myth
Near the village of Mordiford, where the River Lugg meets the River Wye, there once lived a dragon whose story is closely bound to a young girl named Maud.
Maud was a child who longed deeply for a companion of her own. One day, while wandering in the woodland near her village, she discovered a small, bright creature among the flowers. It had a narrow snout and tiny, translucent wings, and it moved with curious life. Delighted, Maud took the creature home, believing she had finally found the pet she desired.
Her parents, however, recognized the truth at once. The creature was no harmless animal but a young wyvern, and they warned Maud that it would bring danger upon the village. They ordered her to return it to the forest immediately. Though she pretended to obey, Maud could not bear to part with it. Instead, she hid the wyvern in a secluded place in the woods and secretly returned to it each day.
Maud fed the creature milk, played with it, and watched as it grew stronger, learning to stretch and beat its wings. Month by month, it grew larger, its body taking on a deep emerald color, its wings becoming broad and powerful. What had once been small enough to cradle soon became something vast and dangerous.
In time, the dragon’s hunger changed. Milk no longer satisfied it, and it began to crave meat. It descended upon nearby farms, killing sheep and cattle. When the farmers tried to stop it, the dragon turned on them as well, discovering a taste for human flesh. The countryside fell into fear.
Maud continued to visit the dragon, begging it to stop its violence. The beast ignored all pleas. Though it spared Maud—its first and only friend—it killed everything else in its path, until the people of Mordiford could endure no more.
At last, a man from the Garstone family armed himself and went into the forest to confront the dragon. When he found it, the wyvern unleashed fire upon him, but he pressed forward and drove his weapon through its throat, killing it where it lay among the trees.
Hearing the struggle, Maud rushed from the forest. She arrived too late. The dragon lay dead, and Maud fell beside it, overwhelmed with grief for the creature she had raised and loved.
Thus ended the dragon of Mordiford—born of wonder, nurtured in secrecy, and destroyed when its nature could no longer be contained. The tale remains a reminder that affection alone cannot tame what is meant to grow beyond human control.
Gallery
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Dragon of Mordiford. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_of_Mordiford
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Dragon of Mordiford