Story 2 of Paul Taylor's Dragon Claims
From EvoWiki
Claim: Scandinavian countries had about as many tales of dragons as anywhere in the world.1 One old legend describes a reptile-like animal that had a body about the size of a large cow. Its two back legs were long and strong. But its front legs were remarkably short. And its jaws were quite large. One of the unique things about many dinosaurs was their short front legs, compared to their long, strong back legs.2 Many also had large jaws. Examples of dinosaurs which fit are the Edmontosaurus. (ed-MONT-oh-SOR-us), and the Iguanodon (i-GWA-no-DON).
Rebuttal: Iguanodon once lived in Europe, especially in what is now Scandinavia 100 million years ago, But Edmontosaurus lived in North America 65 Million Years ago, not in Europe. The truth is that the dragons of Scandinavia never resembled dinosaurs at all. Instead they resembled snakes. Coiling, hissing, poisonous snakes with either 2 or NO legs at all! They were very long, dangerous, and hard to kill. These snake like dragons are called "wyrms" or "worms." They look a lot like worms in a way. In fact like earthworms, in some cases worms can regenerate themselves after being chopped to bits like the dragon in this tale. This famous legend is told about a man who killed a worm with a help of a witch who told him how to kill the worm that has the ability to pull itself back together after being cut apart many times. The story is here. The Story of the Lampton Worm.
Another famous Scandinavian story, which is actually a poem written by a minstrel long ago, tells of a brave warrior named Beowulf whom, when he was much younger, he at one time fought and killed an evil, terrifying ogre named Grendel, who hated parties and crashed them; devouring every party guest he could get his hands on. YECs wrongfully distorted the story, twisting it around and making it to say that the monster Beowulf killed is a dinosaur like Tyrannosaurus, while in fact the monster Beowulf slew was actually an ogre, a large powerful giant who is believed to be a direct descendant of Cain, the first child of Adam and the first murderer. He lived in a cave deep in the swamp that's located nearby a town in Denmark where the ogre is said to terrorize. Beowulf confronted the ogre at the party and wrestled with him without using his sword because the ogre is protected from a sword or any other man made weapon because of a magic spell and eventually tore his arm off leaving the ogre to scream and curse in pain and break away from the fight and staggered back into his cave where he eventually died there. His mother, who was also an ogre, enraged over her son's death, went out and killed a person she believes to be the one responsible for her son's death at a party made to celebrate her son's death. Beowulf learned of this and ventured into the cave where he battled with Grendel's mother and eventually killed her with a magic sword that can pierce the skin of a giant like an ogre by chopping off her head. Beowulf became famous because of this deed and years down the road he became king of his country and ruled over it for many years before he learned of a fearsome dragon terrorizing the people and burning down their villages. The dragon is enraged because someone has stolen a gold chalice from his golden horde and wants it back. Beowulf fought with the dragon and managed to kill him but the wounds that the dragon inflicted with his poisonous bite and fiery breath took a fatal toll on Beowulf and he died shortly there after. YECs falsely brand the monster as a Pterosaur. The problem is that Pterosaurs don't breathe fire, have a poisonous bite, horde treasure, and live for hundreds of years inside of a barrow mound. YECs never mentioned to their gullible followers that pterosaurs don't have bat wings with 4 or 5 long fingers supporting a skin membrane and a small spike thumb on top of their wings and lizard like scales covering their bodies. Nor is their bodies resembling that of snakes either. Instead they have hair on their gorilla like bodies and a pair of wings that is supported by only one elongated fourth finger.
