I run a popular Pinterest page for Medieval Dragons.  I try to keep it updated with whatever I find during my almost daily searches.  One thing I have noticed is that there are a few creatures that are close to dragons but are not.  Call me picky but if I am going to classify something as a dragon, then it had better be a dragon.  The other creatures that appear similar to dragons are asps, serpents, and a few others depending on how the scribe drew them such as cockatrice, basilisk and griffins.  I am concerned today with asps since they appear to be the closest in design to that of dragons.

Which one is a dragon?

The dragon is the one that is in the shield.  The other two look like dragons but they are asps.  How then do you determine what is a dragon and what is an asp?

To quote directly from Medieval Bestiary:  “The asp is a serpent that avoids the enchantment of music by pressing one ear against the ground and plugging the other ear with its tail. In some versions the asp guards a tree that drips balm; to get the balm men must first put the asp to sleep by playing or singing to it. Another version holds that the asp has a precious stone called a carbuncle in its head, and the enchanter must say certain words to the asp to obtain the stone.”  It can also be known as a Prester…something I have seen before during my readings of medieval scrolls.

I have also read that Asps plug their ears in order to avoid hearing bible verses being read to it.

Here is another Asp…just to make sure you got it:

Sources used:

Medieval Bestiary – http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast268.htm

Asp3 – http://www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/manus/225/eng/39/

Asp1 and Asp2 came from Pinterest and I cannot currently reference their source

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