Note 45.1 — Chapter XVII · THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA IN SAGAS.

We are not immediately concerned with the revolting legend of the saint’s martyrdom. It may be well, however, to point out that this appears to be the oldest part of the story. Mr. Baring-Gould, indeed, conjectures that the incident of the Rescue of Andromeda attached itself to his name in consequence of a misunderstanding—on whose part he does not specify—of the concluding words of an encomium on the saint made by Metaphrastes, a Byzantine writer of the early part of the tenth century, in which he ascribes to his hero the feat of confounding and making a mock of the cunning dragon, meaning of course the Devil.45.1 Such misunderstandings are not unknown in the legends of the saints. M. Maury enumerates forty-two saints, not including Saint George, to whom a victory over a dragon has been ascribed by a similar blunder; and it would not be surprising to find that his list is far from complete.46.1 Whatever may have been the cause of the appropriation of the incident to Saint George, it is certain that the belief in the story is to be found everywhere in Europe. In some places it has even been localised, as at Mansfeld, where the saint is declared to have been a knight named George, who was Count of Mansfeld, and whose own daughter was the damsel rescued from the maw of the dragon. His statue as he slew the monster stands over the church-door; and there can be little doubt that the statue, whether intended for Saint George or any other person, has caused the localisation of the tradition.46.2