Princess and dragon is a archetypical premise common to many

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

s, and

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric ...

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...

identified it as a central form of the

quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of e ...

romance. The story involves an upper-class woman, generally a princess or similar high-ranking nobility, saved from a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

, either a literal dragon or a similar danger, by the virtuous hero (see

Damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...

). She may be the first woman endangered by the peril, or may be the end of a long succession of women who were not of as high birth as she is, nor as fortunate. Normally the princess ends up married to the dragon-slayer. The motifs of the hero who finds the princess about to be sacrificed to the dragon and saves her, the

false hero The false hero is a stock character in fairy tales, and sometimes also in ballads. The character appears near the end of a story in order to claim to be the hero or heroine and is usually of the same sex as the hero or heroine. The false hero presen ...

who takes his place, and the final revelation of the true hero, are the identifying marks of the Aarne–Thompson folktale type 300, the Dragon-Slayer. They also appear in type 303, the Two Brothers. These two tales have been found, in different variants, in countries all over the world. The "princess and dragon" scenario is given even more weight in popular imagination than it is in the original tales; the stereotypical hero is envisioned as slaying dragons even though, for instance, the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

had only a few tales of dragon and giant slayers among hundreds of tales.

History

One of the earliest examples of the motif comes from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

tale of

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus ( /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek: Περσεύς, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer ...

, who rescued the princess Andromeda from

Cetus Cetus () is a constellation, sometimes called 'the whale' in English. The Cetus was a sea monster in Greek mythology which both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay. Cetus is in the region of the sky that contains other water-related constellat ...

, a sea monster often described as resembling a serpent or dragon. This was taken up into other Greek myths, such as

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

, who rescued the princess

Hesione In Greek mythology and later art, the name Hesione ( /hɪˈsaɪ.əniː/; Ancient Greek: Ἡσιόνη) refers to various mythological figures, of whom the Trojan princess Hesione is most known. Mythology According to the '' Bibliotheca'', the ...

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

from a similar sea monster. Most ancient versions depicted the dragon as the expression of a god's wrath: in Andromeda's case, because her mother Cassiopeia had compared her beauty to that of the sea

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

s, and in Hesione's, because her father had reneged on a bargain with

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as ...

. This is less common in fairy tales and other, later versions, where the dragon is frequently acting out of malice. Susanoo-no-Mikoto-slays-Yamata-no-Orochi-in-Izumo-By-Tsukioka-Yoshitoshi

Susanoo-no-Mikoto-slays-Yamata-no-Orochi-in-Izumo-By-Tsukioka-Yoshitoshi

The Japanese legend of

Yamata no Orochi , or simply , is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed Japanese dragon/serpent. Mythology Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The 712 AD transcribes this dragon nam ...

also invokes this motif. The god

Susanoo __FORCETOC__ Susanoo (; historical orthography: , ) is a in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese imperial line, he is a multifaceted deity with contradictory charact ...

encounters two "Earthly Deities" who have been forced to sacrifice their seven daughters to the many-headed monster, and their daughter

Kushinadahime , also known as or Inadahime among other names, is a goddess (''kami'') in Japanese mythology. She is one of the wives of the god Susanoo, who rescued her from the monster Yamata no Orochi. Name The goddess is named 'Kushinadahime' (櫛名田 ...

is the next victim. Susanoo is able to kill the dragon after getting it drunk on

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and in ...

(rice wine). Another variation is from the tale of

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

. The tale begins with a dragon making its nest at the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...

which provides a

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

with water. Consequently, the citizens had to temporarily remove the dragon from its nest in order to collect water. To do so, they offered the dragon a daily

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...

. The victim of the day was chosen by drawing lots. Eventually in this

lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...

, the lot happened to fall to the local princess. The local

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

is occasionally depicted begging for her life with no result. She is offered to the dragon but at this point a traveling

Saint George Saint George ( Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

arrives. He faces and defeats the dragon and saves the princess; some versions claim that the dragon is not killed in the fight, but pacified once George ties the princess' sash around its neck. The grateful citizens then abandon their ancestral

paganism Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

and convert to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

. A similar tale to St. George's, attributed to Russian sources, is that of ''St. Yegóry, the Brave'': after the kingdoms of Sodom and Komor fall, the kingdom of "Arabia" is menaced by a sea-monster that demanded a sacrifice of a human victim every day. The queenly stepmother sent the Princess Elizabeth, the Fair, as the sacrifice. Yegóry, the Brave rescues Elizabeth and uses her sash to bind the beast. To mark her deliverance, he demands the building of three churches. In a tale from

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, a kingdom suffers from draught due to two "serpent-gods" blocking the streams of water at the source. Both dragons also demand the sacrifices of citizens from the kingdom, men and women, to appease them, until prince Schalu and his faithful companion Saran decide to put an end to their existence. When the tale is not about a dragon but a

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human ...

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

, or

ogre An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

, the princess is often a captive rather than about to be eaten, as in ''

The Three Princesses of Whiteland "The Three Princesses of Whiteland" (''De tre prinsesser i Hvittenland'') is a Norwegian fairy tale, collected by Norwegian writers Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their collection of folktales and legends ''Norske folkeeventy ...

''. These princesses are often a vital source of information to their rescuers, telling them how to perform tasks that the captor sets to them, or how to kill the monster, and when she does not know, as in '' The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body'', she frequently can pry the information from the giant. Despite the hero's helplessness without this information, the princess is incapable of using the knowledge herself. Illustration at page 25 in Europa's Fairy Book

Illustration at page 25 in Europa's Fairy Book

Again, if a false claimant intimidates her into silence about who actually killed the monster as in the

'' The Two Brothers'', when the hero appears, she will endorse his story, but she will not tell the truth prior to them; she often agrees to marry the false claimant in the hero's absence. The hero has often cut out the tongue of the dragon, so when the false hero cuts off its head, his claim to have killed it is refuted by its lack of a tongue; the hero produces the tongue and so proves his claim to marry the princess. In some tales, however, the princess herself takes steps to ensure that she can identify the hero—cutting off a piece of his cloak as in '' Georgic and Merlin'', giving him tokens as in '' The Sea-Maiden''—and so separate him from the false hero. Orlando Furioso 20

This dragon-slaying hero appears in medieval romances about

knights-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective ''errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric ...

, such as the Russian

Dobrynya Nikitich Dobrynya Nikitich (russian: Добрыня Никитич) is one of the most popular bogatyrs (epic knights) from Russian folklore. Albeit fictional, this character is based on a real warlord Dobrynya, who led the armies of Svyatoslav the Gre ...

. In some variants of

Tristan and Iseult Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Based on a Celtic legend and possibly other sources, the tale is a tragedy about the illic ...

Tristan Tristan ( Latin/Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...

wins

Iseult Iseult (), alternatively Isolde () and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Tristan. Her mother, the quee ...

for his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, by killing a dragon that was devastating her father's kingdom; he has to prove his claim when the king's steward claims to be the dragon-slayer.

Ludovico Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

took the concept up into ''

Orlando Furioso ''Orlando furioso'' (; ''The Frenzy of Orlando'', more loosely ''Raging Roland'') is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was ...

'' using it not once but twice: the rescue of

Angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as Iceland, Lapland, and Greenland. They gr ...

by Ruggiero, and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

rescuing Olimpia. The monster that menaced Olimpia reconnected to the Greek myths; although Ariosto described it as a legend to the characters, the story was that the monster sprung from an offense against

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...

. In neither case did he marry the rescued woman to the rescuer.

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for '' The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen o ...

depicts St. George in ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

'', but while Una is a princess who seeks aid against a dragon, and her depiction in the opening with a lamb fits the iconography of St. George pageants, the dragon imperils her parents' kingdom, and not her alone. Many tales of dragons, ending with the dragon-slayer marrying a princess, do not precisely fit this cliché because the princess is in no more danger than the rest of the threatened kingdom. An unusual variant occurs in

Child ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

34, ''

Kemp Owyne "Kemp Owyne" (or "Kempion") is Child Ballad number 34. Synopsis The heroine is turned into a worm (dragon), usually by her stepmother, who curses her to remain so until the king's son comes to kiss her three times. When he arrives, she offers him ...

'', where the dragon ''is'' the maiden; the hero, based on

Ywain Sir Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urie ...

from Arthurian legend, rescues her from the transformation with three kisses. Mythological comparativist Julien d'Huy ran an analytical study of the antiquity and diffusion of the snake- or dragon-battling mytheme in different cultural traditions. Scholarship suggests a connection between the episode of the dragon-slaying by the hero and the journey on an eagle's back, akin to the Mesopotamian myth of Etana.

Modern versions

In the 1959 animated film ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'',

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

concluded the tale by having the

wicked fairy godmother The Wicked Fairy is the antagonist of '' Sleeping Beauty''. In some adaptations she is known as Carabosse, and she is named Maleficent in Walt Disney media. Role in the tale In Charles Perrault's '' Sleeping Beauty'', published in 1697 in '' H ...

Maleficent transform herself into a dragon to withstand the prince, converting the fairy tale to one with the princess and dragon theme. In

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., an ...

's '' Dr. No'', both the book and film versions feature a tank in the shape of a dragon that protects Dr. No's island from superstitious intruders.

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

and

Honeychile Rider Honeychile Rider is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel '' Dr. No''. In the 1962 Bond film of the same name, her name was shortened and changed to Honey Ryder. In the film, she is played by Swiss actress Ursula Andress and ...

are menaced by the dragon, do battle with it, have their friend Quarrel killed and are captured by the crew of the Dragon tank. Ann Boyd's 1967 book ''The Devil with James Bond'' explores the theory of the updating of the Princess and dragon genre. In modern

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

works, the dragon may hold the princess captive instead of eating her. Patricia Wrede spoofed this concept in ''

Dealing with Dragons ''Dealing with Dragons'' is a young adult fantasy novel written by Patricia C. Wrede, and is the first book in the ''Enchanted Forest Chronicles'' series. The novel chronicles the adventures of the princess Cimorene, who escapes her tediously ord ...

''. A feminist subversion of the concept for young readers is

Robert Munsch Robert Norman Munsch (born June 11, 1945) is an American-Canadian children's author. Personal life and career Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 11, 1945. He grew up in a family of 9 children. He graduated from Fordha ...

's ''

The Paper Bag Princess ''The Paper Bag Princess'' is a children's book written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko. It was first published in 1980 by Annick Press and launched Munsch's career to the forefront of a new wave of Canadian children’s aut ...

'', in which a princess outwits a dragon to save a prince (her betrothed, whom she proceeds ''not'' to marry upon him insulting her makeshift clothing instead of thanking her). In Jay Williams's tale ''The Practical Princess'', a dragon demands that a king should sacrifice his daughter to him so that he will leave the rest of the kingdom alone. But the princess saves herself by making a "princess dummy" out of straw and filling it with boiling pitch and tar. The princess dresses the straw dummy in one of her own gowns, then goes to the dragon's cave where she offers herself as a sacrifice. The unwitting dragon swallows the dummy whole, and the pitch and tar explode inside the dragon's stomach, killing him. Afterwards, the princess observes, "Dragons are not very smart." In the

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

short story ''Prince Delightful and the Flameless Dragon'', it is revealed that Dragons used to be slain as part of a passage from princehood to adulthood, though after a while, they became a protected species. Contrary to popular myth, they do not eat princesses as they tend to smell of cheap perfume and give indigestion.

Interpretations

In his study on the historical roots of the wondertale, Russian scholar

Vladimir Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (russian: Владимир Яковлевич Пропп; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irredu ...

interpreted the dragonslaying tale (ATU 300) as an ''inversion'' of the ancient ritual of a maiden sacrifice to a river to ensure good crops. Propp speculated that, in regards to this practice, the hero would be seem as a "profaner" of the ritual, but, as time passed, the maiden sacrifice was discarded and the hero was elevated.

Diversions

In some stories, mostly in more recent literary works, the cliché involving princesses and dragons is somehow twisted to create a more exciting or humorous effect. For example, in ''

'', the princess came to realize that her prince was even more obnoxious than the dragon, and refused to go with him, preferring to skip off into the setting sun alone instead. In some versions, the princess may also befriend, tame, personally defeat, or even be turned into a dragon herself. Indeed, there are a few examples when a curse or spell transforms a princess into a dragon or similar creature (e.g. an alligator, giant bird, or fictional reptile species) or merges her with a mystical object. For instance, in ''

Atlantis: The Lost Empire ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' is a 2001 American animated science fiction film, science fiction action film, action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. ...

'', the Atlantean princess is called upon by the

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

that detects a threat and merges with her before she is locked in the crate by Commander Rourke and, after being rescued by Milo and his allies from Rourke, creates a force field to protect the city from an incoming

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...

. In such stories, the transformed princess usually aids her sweetheart in a battle against a force of evil. In '' The Swan Princess'', for example, Princess Odette is transformed into a

swan Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Som ...

, and she helps her lover triumph in a battle against the sorcerer Rothbart, who has the power to transform himself into a hideous beast (a manifestation of a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

, and

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

Tales with princesses and dragons

Mythology

* Andromeda *

Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr Thora Borgarhjört ( non, Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr, which literally means "Thora Town- Hart"), is a mythical character in the Norse sagas – the wife of Ragnar Loðbrók, who kills a serpent to win her hand in marriage. Thora was the daughter of ...

, rescued from a serpent by Ragnar Lodbrok * Nikita the Tanner, Russian

bogatyr A bogatyr ( rus, богатырь, p=bəɡɐˈtɨrʲ, a=Ru-богатырь.ogg) or vityaz ( rus, витязь, p=ˈvʲitʲɪsʲ) is a stock character in medieval East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear m ...

who fights

Zmey Gorynych A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Russian '' zmei'' (or ''zmey''; ), Ukrainian ''zmiy'' (), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures: the Bulgarian ''zmey'' (), the Slovak ''drak'' and ''šarkan'', Czech ' ...

Folk and fairy tales

, a bogatyr who fights a

Slavic dragon A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Russian '' zmei'' (or ''zmey''; ), Ukrainian ''zmiy'' (), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures: the Bulgarian ''zmey'' (), the Slovak ''drak'' and ''šarkan'', Czech '' ...

*''The Dragon with Seven Heads'' in

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the '' Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmicomi ...

's ''

Italian Folktales ''Italian Folktales'' (''Fiabe italiane'') is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's '' Morphology of the Folktale''; his intention was to emula ...

'' * The Two Brothers, collected by the

* The Twins * The Knights of the Fish *

The Dragon of the North The Dragon of the North ( et, Põhja konn, literally Frog of the North) is an Estonian fairy tale, collected by Dr. Friedrich Kreutzwald in ''Eestirahwa Ennemuistesed jutud''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Yellow Fairy Book''; he listed his so ...

* The Dragon and the Prince * The Three Dogs * The Three Princes and their Beasts *

The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples "The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples" (''Zlatna jabuka i devet paunica'') is a work of Serbian epic poetry. It is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 400*, "The Swan Maiden", and ATU 400, "The Quest for the Lost Wife". It was published for the ...

* The Sea-Maiden * The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin *

The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life "The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life" (russian: Сказка о молодце-удальце, молодильных яблоках и живой воде) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in '' Naro ...

The Little Bull-Calf The Little Bull-Calf is an English Romani fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''More English Fairy Tales''.Joseph Jacobs, ''More English Fairy Tales''. "The Little Bull-Calf" Marian Roalfe Cox, in her pioneering study of ''Cinderella'', ...

The Three Enchanted Princes The Three Enchanted Princes or The Three Animal Kings ( Neapolitan: ''Li tre rri anemale''; Italian: ''I tre re animale'') is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the ''Pentamerone''. It is Aarne–Thom ...

* The Merchant * Georgic and Merlin *

*''Cesarino di Berni'' ('' The Facetious Nights of Straparola'')"Cesarino the Dragon Slayer". In: ''The Pleasant Nights''. Volume 2. edited by Beecher Donald, by Straparola Giovan Francesco and Waters W.G., 361-93. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442699533.30. * Ileana Simziana * Ileana Cosânzeana, rescued by Făt-Frumos from the

Zmeu The ''Zmeu'' (plural: ''zmei'', feminine: ''zmeoaică'' / ''zmeoaice'') is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Though referred by some sources as a dragon, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has c ...

ou Balaur *

Kulshedra The kulshedra or kuçedra is a water, storm, fire and chthonic demon in Albanian mythology and folklore, usually described as a huge multi-headed female serpentine dragon. The kulshedra is believed to spit fire, cause drought, storms, floodi ...

, a creature in

Albanian folklore Albanian folk beliefs ( sq, Besimet folklorike shqiptare) comprise the beliefs expressed in the customs, rituals, myths, legends and tales of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all ...

that sometimes guards the fairy or princess Beauty of the Earth *

The Flower Queen's Daughter The Flower Queen's Daughter (German: ''Die Tochter der Blumenkönigin'') is a Bukovinian fairy tale collected by Dr Heinrich von Wlislocki in ''Märchen Und Sagen Der Bukowinaer Und Siebenbûrger Armenier''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Yell ...

Literature

*''

'' by

*''

Guards! Guards! ''Guards! Guards!'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighth in the '' Discworld'' series, first published in 1989. It is the first novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. The first ''Discworld'' point-and-click adventu ...

'' by

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his '' Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first no ...

*''Dragon-in-Distress'' by E. G. Castle (here, the princess's and the dragon's roles are reversed) *''When Princesses Are Pawns'' by E. G. Cramer

Modern media

Films and television

*''

Dragonslayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classific ...

'' *''

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and ''Conan the Destroyer''), ...

'' *''

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jen ...

'' *'' Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase'' *'' Blazing Dragons'' (here, the knight's and the dragon's roles are reversed) *''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American Animated series, animated Television comedy, comedy Television show, television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It ...

'' – " Dunces and Dragons" *''

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

Video games

*''

Dragon's Lair ''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer and Don Bluth. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television a ...

'' *'' King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human'' *''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project ( Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo ( Koichi Sugiyama) to its pu ...

'' *''

Dragon's Dogma ''Dragon's Dogma'' is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed and published by Capcom for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. An enhanced version titled ''Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen'' was released for the game's original consol ...

'' *'' King's Bounty: The Legend'' *''

Hydlide is an action role-playing game developed and published by T&E Soft. It was originally released for the NEC PC-6001 and PC-8801 computers in 1984, in Japan only; ports for the MSX, MSX2, FM-7 and NEC PC-9801 were released the following year. ...

'' and its remake, ''

Virtual Hydlide is an action role-playing game for the Sega Saturn console, developed by T&E Soft, published by Sega in Europe and Japan, and Atlus Software in North America. It is a remake of the original '' Hydlide'', the first game in the series, but incorpo ...

'' *''

Hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

'' *''

Dragon Buster is a platform, action role-playing dungeon crawl game developed by Namco and released in 1984. It runs on Namco Pac-Land hardware, modified to support vertical scrolling. In Japan, the game was ported to the Family Computer (Famicom), ...

'' *''

Dragon's Crown ''Dragon's Crown'' is a 2013 action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It was published in Japan and North America by Atlus and in PAL regions by NIS America. A high-definition port for Pla ...

'' *'' Castle Master''

Tales with princesses and similar perils

Mythology

*the ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

Folk and fairy tales

* The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body * The Red Ettin *

Soria Moria Castle Soria Moria Castle (''Soria Moria slott'') is a Norwegian fairy tale made famous by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their classical '' Norske Folkeeventyr''. Later Andrew Lang included the story in his series of fairy tale collectio ...

Snow-White-Fire-Red Snow-White-Fire-Red (''Bianca-comu-nivi-russa-comu-focu'') is a Sicilian fairy tale collected by Giuseppe Pitre and translated by Thomas Frederick Crane in ''Italian Popular Tales''. Synopsis A king and queen made a vow that, if they had a chil ...

Shortshanks Shortshanks is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in ''Norske Folkeeventyr''. Synopsis A poor couple had many children, and one day had two more sons. Both boys looked about the cottage and set off to ...

Tritill, Litill, and the Birds Tritill, Litill, and the Birds is a Hungarian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Crimson Fairy Book''. A version of the tale also appears in '' A Book of Ogres and Trolls'', by Ruth Manning-Sanders. That version is said to come from Ice ...

The Death of Koschei the Deathless The Death of Koschei the Deathless or Marya Morevna (russian: Марья Моревна) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in ''Narodnye russkie skazki'' and included by Andrew Lang in ''The Red Fairy Book''. The character ...

* The Crystal Ball *

The Flea ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Schippeitaro is the name of a helper dog in the Japanese fairy tale by the same name. Translations include "Schippeitaro" in Andrew Lang's '' Violet Fairy Book'' (1901), taken from a German copy, and Mrs. James's "Schippeitaro" (1888), which share the same p ...

Literature

*''

Ruslan and Ludmila Ruslan may refer to: * ''Ruslan'' (film), a 2009 film starring Steven Segal * Ruslan (given name), male name used mainly in Slavic countries, with list of people * Antonov An-124 ''Ruslan'', large Soviet cargo aircraft, later built in Ukraine and ...

'' by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

*''

The Castle of Llyr ''The Castle of Llyr'' (1966) is a high fantasy novel by Lloyd Alexander, the third of five volumes in '' The Chronicles of Prydain''. The story continues the adventures of Taran, the "Assistant Pig-Keeper", and his companions. Princess Eilonw ...

'' by

Lloyd Alexander Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007) was an American author of more than 40 books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. Over his seven-decade career, Alexander wrote 48 books, and his work has been tran ...

*''

The Tale of Despereaux ''The Tale of Despereaux'' (, ) is a 2003 children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the ra ...

'' by

Kate DiCamillo Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American children's fiction author. She has published over 25 novels, including '' Because of Winn-Dixie'', ''The Tiger Rising'', ''The Tale of Despereaux'', ''The Miraculous Journey ...

*'' Castle in the Air'' by Diana Wynne Jones

Modern media

Animated and live-action films

* Walt Disney's ''Sleeping Beauty'' *'' Star Wars: A New Hope'' *'' Fire and Ice'' *''

Conan the Destroyer ''Conan the Destroyer'' is a 1984 American epic sword and sorcery film directed by Richard Fleischer from a screenplay by Stanley Mann and a story by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. Based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. ...

'' *'' Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers'' *''

'' *''

Castle in the Sky , titled ''Laputa: Castle in the Sky'' for release in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, is a 1986 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The first film produced by Studio Ghibli, i ...

'' *'' Wizards of the Lost Kingdom'' *''

The Princess and the Pirate ''The Princess and the Pirate'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo. Based on a story by Sy Bartlett, the film is about a princess who travels incognito to elope with her true love inst ...

'' *''

The Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 Japanese animated action-adventure comedy film co-written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, with animation produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS). It is the second feature film featuring Monkey Punch's master thief Arsène Lupin III, ...

'' *'' Deathstalker'' *'' Felix the Cat: The Movie'' *''

Son of the Pink Panther ''Son of the Pink Panther'' is a 1993 comedy film. It is the ninth and final installment of the original '' The Pink Panther'' film series starting from the 1963 film. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's ...

'' *'' 1½ Knights: In Search of the Ravishing Princess Herzelinde''

Television

*''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...

'' – " The National Anthem" *''

El-Hazard is a Japanese anime franchise written by Ryoe Tsukimura and directed by Hiroki Hayashi. The series was animated by AIC and produced by Pioneer LDC. There is also a manga adaptation, which is published in English by VIZ Media. The serie ...

'' *'' Magic Knight Rayearth''

Video games

*''

Super Mario (also known as and ) is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every major Nintendo vide ...

'' series *''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-relea ...

'' series *'' Wario Land 4'' *''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...

'' and its prequel, '' Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin'' *''

Ghosts 'n Goblins ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', known in Japan as , is a run-and-gun platform video game series created by Tokuro Fujiwara and developed by Capcom. The first entry in the series was '' Ghosts 'n Goblins'', released in arcades on July 7, 1985. The serie ...

'' series *'' Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' and its remake, '' Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'' *'' Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp'' * ''Prince of Persia'' (1989) *''

Marvel Land is a platform game released by Namco in arcades in 1990. It runs on the Namco System 2 hardware. The game was published for the Mega Drive in 1991, with the European version renamed ''Talmit's Adventure''. The game shares its name with the fict ...

'' *'' Dragon Spirit'' and its sequel, '' Dragon Spirit: The New Legend'' *''

Bomberman Hero is a platforming video game and the second ''Bomberman'' game for the Nintendo 64. It was originally planned as a ''Bonk''/''PC Kid'' game known as ''Ultra Genjin'', but became a Bomberman game during development. A further departure from t ...

'' *''

Shining in the Darkness ''Shining in the Darkness'', released as in Japan, is a 1991 role-playing video game for the Mega Drive/Genesis video game console. It was one of the first role-playing games released for the system, and was the first in the ''Shining'' series. ...

'' *'' Shining Soul II'' *''

HarmoKnight ''HarmoKnight'', known in Japan as , is a rhythm platformer developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released on the Nintendo eShop in Japan on September 5, 2012, and internationally on March 28, 2013. ...

'' *''

Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru , officially translated as ''The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls'', is an action role-playing video game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy exclusively in Japan in 1992. The title is a play on E ...

'' *'' King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne'' *'' Wizard and the Princess'' *'' Wizards & Warriors'' and its sequel, '' Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear'' * ''Battletoads'' (1991) * ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (2006) *'' Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom'' *''

Xexex , released as ''Orius'' in North America, is a 1991 side-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game by Konami. It draws on Irem's ''R-Type'' and Konami's other shoot 'em up ''Gradius'', while adding the tentacle mechanics of Irem's other shoot 'em up ''XM ...

'' *''

Pit Pot ''Pit Pot'' is a video game developed by Sega for the Master System. The Japanese version was released in 1985 and the export version in 1986. It was only released as a combo with '' Astro Warrior'' in a double cart in the United States and Euro ...

'' *'' The Astyanax'' *''

Snow Bros. is a 1990 platform arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan first published in Japan, then in North America by Romstar and later in Europe. Starring the eponymous snowmen twins Nick and Tom, players are tasked with travelling through 5 ...

'' and its sequel, '' Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves''

History

Modern versions

Interpretations

Diversions

Tales with princesses and dragons

Mythology

Folk and fairy tales

Literature

Modern media

Films and television

Video games

Tales with princesses and similar perils

Mythology

Folk and fairy tales

Literature

Modern media

Animated and live-action films

Television

Video games

See also

References

Further reading