Everyone 'knows' fire breathing dragons are just myth. right? And ,of course, Leprechauns...wolf-men, tree-men, two-headed people, up-side down headed men, sea serpents?
Let's look into the lives of a typical family in, say, 15th century Europe; they have six children and are anticipating a seventh. We must realize this family lives in an area filled with fear and superstition; the Church was here briefly, but two missionaries have already been run off because the favored leader of the group says they only caused trouble when they were in charge years before. Just the week prior, this leader 'saved' the entire community by hanging a witch that had caused a storm that blew down trees and damaged crops. How did he know she was a witch? She was laying out clothes on the grass to dry on wash day, and just before the storm came, she was seen dancing in her backyard! Of course she brought the storm! Well, you get the idea. In reality, hundreds of thousands of people were killed by their neighbors this way in Medieval Europe because of superstitious fear.
Now, for our family. Mama worked with the girls in the garden; the boys helped Papa with the animals; work was hard and even the youngest had his chores to do. As they worked Mama and Papa watched carefully for dragons that were said to eat small animals, even children! And, of course, they must watch to see that their children don't anything out of the ordinary. There was also talk of a group of farmers being invaded by robbers not too far away. This family, as their neighbors, live in constant fear from many different directions.
Mama says it is time for the new child to be born! The oldest girl is now old enough to help Mama birth the baby, if nothing goes wrong, and nothing has before. All goes well and the new baby...is born. The older sister suddenly runs to fetch Papa, she doesn't know what else to do! Something is wrong with this baby! There is hair all over its face and much of its body! Papa says to quickly take the child out into the woods and leave it to die! The older sister, greatly fearing someone will see her, does just as Papa says. Now, they go on as nothing has happened; if someone asks, say the child died before it was born, and perhaps the leader will not demand their house be burned!
What a horrid story, you may say, and indeed it is! Surely nobody ever lived like this! I'm very sorry to say that they did indeed live like this without the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and amid a great deal of folktale and superstition!
So what happened to the child? Certainly she died! Or did she? Was she perhaps found by a small band of those who had the misfortune to be born with a rare birth defect and superstition had many names for them. Monsters. Half devil. Cursed of God. Whatever the name they lived in caves or abandoned buildings, wherever they could find a place. And, of course, they kept out of sight of anyone else! But as hunger drove them out at night to steal a chicken or a cooling pie, someone was bound to catch a glimpse of them, and ,oh, the stories that sprang up from such a sighting! The stories would be told again and again, of werewolves ( a condition we now call hypertrichosis in which hair grows all over a persons body ), Leprechauns ( Primordial Dwarfism is a condition that can result in a person being born with extremely delicate features and a body that may not grow any more than 2 feet high), two-headed monsters ( I have followed the story of two very delightful girls who do indeed share one body! A very extreme case of Siamese Twins). Just recently I saw a grown man whose head lay flat against his back!
Today, we help these people through surgery, physical therapy, and whatever means now available, but this has not always been the case. Thankfully, Christianity has whooshed away most superstition and given dignity to many more of God's Beloved people!
Yes, indeed, this very scenario likely happened many times over. And my point? Ancient historians told of stories like this and were disregarded as mere story tellers, and these same historians told stories of Biblical heroes; so if these stories were true, then so were the stories of miracles done by monks, priests, and others by whom the Holy Spirit of God showed Himself loving to those who believed.
And who do some of these ancient historians say first inhabited Britain so long ago? A man named Samothes, a son (or grandson) of Japheth, son of Noah. A 15th century historian, Annius Of Verterbo, an official of Pope Alexander VI, found some fragments written by Berossus, 290 BC, who wrote 'The History of Babylonia', and also wrote of the early history of Britain, in his writing, "Celtica".
Oh, yes, dragons. Um, next time!
