Note 19 — Chapter VI · Bird and Serpent Myths
Reading edition
In each separated area the dragon took on a local colouring, but the fundamental beliefs connected with it remained the same. It was closely connected with water (the “water of life”), and also with trees (the “trees of life”). Thus we find that in China a dragon might assume “the shape of a tree growing under water”;19 a boat once collided with drift-wood which was found to be a dragon. Crocodiles are sometimes mistaken for logs of wood.