Note 15 — Chapter VII · Dragon Folk-stories
Reading edition
The reference in the Japanese story to the averted face of the dragon woman may be connected with the ancient belief that the mortal who looked in the face of a deity was either shrivelled up or transformed into stone, as happened in the case of those who fixed their eyes upon the face of Medusa. Goddesses like the Egyptian Neith were “veiled”. A Japanese legend tells of a dragon woman who appeared as a woman with a malicious white face. She laughed loudly, displaying black teeth. She was often seen on a bridge, binding up her hair.15 Apparently she was a variety of the mermaid family, and this may explain the reference to her being “one legged”. The people scared her away by forming a torch-light procession and advancing towards her. Dragons were sometimes expelled by means of fire. In Europe, bonfires were lit when certain “ceremonies of riddance” were performed.