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Dragons are commonly portrayed as serpentine or
reptilian, hatching from eggs and possessing extremely
large, typically scaly, bodies; they are sometimes
portrayed as having large eyes, a feature that is the
origin for the word for dragon in many cultures, and
are often (but not always) portrayed with wings and a
fiery breath. Some dragons do not have wings at all,
but look more like long snakes. Dragons can have a
variable number of legs: none, two or four. Modern
depictions of dragons are very large in size, but
some early European depictions of dragons were
only the size of bears.
Although dragons (or dragon-like creatures) occur commonly
in legends around the world, different cultures have
perceived them differently. Chinese dragons and Eastern
dragons generally, are usually seen as benevolent, whereas
European dragons are usually malevolent (there are of
course exceptions to these rules). Malevolent dragons also
occur in Persian mythology (see Azhi Dahaka) and other
cultures. |
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