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Hello, my lovely learners.
Today's episode is a rerun.
We're going back to an episode from two years ago, Saint George and the Dragon.
Why? Well, this episode is all about the myth of Saint George's Day, which is a national day in the UK, and it was very recent.
It traditions around the world for St George's Day and the original legend that started everything off, but before that I'm going to tell you about my Easter because as I'm recording this Easter has just passed and although St George's Day is quite important historically it's not something most people celebrate these days in the UK, but I as a Christian most definitely do celebrate Easter.
So throughout the week of Easter, there were several services to prepare us for the story of Jesus Christ dying and coming back from the grave. I think I talked about some those in the last podcast episode, and I've talked about them on the email newsletter.
If you want to read more about my life, by the way, read a bit of, you know, I don't know, updates about what's going on with me, you should definitely join the email newsletter at EasyStoriesInEnglish .com slash email.
So let me talk about what happened on Easter Sunday specifically.
The highlight of Easter Sunday was the dawn mass.
Now dawn means when the sun comes up, and yes, we celebrated that at dawn which meant I had to wake up at 4 a .m. leave the house at 4 30 to be at my church at 5 30 a .m. We all stood outside in the cold and And there was a ceremony where we did some readings from the Book of Genesis, which is one of the books from the Bible about the origin of the world, how God created the world.
There were some other readings, and then we lit a fire.
We kind of set some wood on fire and then using that fire, we took this really, really big candle.
I say we, it was the clergy, the priests doing this.
So, they take this big candle, which is the Paschal Candle or the Easter candle.
They put nails into it, just as Jesus Christ was nailed into the cross.
And then, using the fire on the ground, they light the Easter candle.
And then, we go inside the church. Inside, although the sun had risen by this point, we still didn't have that much light and we didn't turn on the lights in the church, because everyone had a small candle in their hand.
So first, people at the front lit the candle on the Easter candle, and then they lit other people's candles until all of our candles were lit, and it was so beautiful seeing the church lit up by all of these candles.
It really felt like the morning when Jesus came back from the dead.
In the story in the Bible, Mary Magdalene and some of the other women go to Jesus' tomb, they go to the place he was put after he died, and they find the tomb is empty.
And then there are different versions of what happens, but essentially they meet Jesus again, but he has risen from the dead.
And meeting there in the church in the darkness with all the candles, And it really felt like this slow beautiful realisation that Jesus had come back from the grave. So one of the things we say a lot on Easter Sunday is Christ is risen, hallelujah.
And when someone says that to you, you respond He is risen indeed.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah is just like an expression of joy.
And many times in the service, the priest says, Christ is risen, hallelujah.
And the congregation or the people cry out, He is risen indeed, hallelujah.
So we had all of the regular parts of the church service.
We had the body and blood of Christ. We sang and my voice was surprisingly okay given the time.
And then we went downstairs after the service to have breakfast together.
this is something very special my church does on Easter Sunday morning.
We each took a glass of Prosecco, or orange juice for those who preferred, and we made a toast to Jesus.
And then we ate hard boiled eggs, hot cross buns.
Hot cross buns are like a traditional Easter food in the UK, so they're little buns with a cross on them, and they have raisins inside, they're quite sweet.
toast, fruit and so on.
So if you remember I gave up sugar for Lent, I gave up sweets and cakes of all kinds for Lent for the 40 days leading up to Easter and for the most part I did it.
I didn't eat any chocolate, I didn't eat cake, I only broke it twice and these were really only by my rules so lots of People would argue I didn't break it, but basically I had a bubble tea with a very low amount of sugar, but the boba, the tapioca balls do have sugar in them, and I had a watermelon juice at a restaurant, but other than that, I stayed completely off sugar for all of Lent.
So on Easter Sunday, I decided I might as well try it again.
We had some little chocolate Easter eggs, which I tried, and they were quite disappointing because of course they're cheap chocolate.
And we had the hot cross buns, which are quite sweet.
And I ate them and I actually found they were too sweet.
Actually, the only sugary thing I really wanted to eat a lot of were the fruits, which I was already eating before.
However, later on, we did have food after the main service.
So the main service was around 1030 a .m., which more people came to, although a surprising number of people came to the Dornmass, it was quite impressive and I did have some cake and brownies and stuff at the lunch after the main service and I enjoyed them, but I decided eventually you know, like I'm just going to pig out today.
I'm just going to eat as much sweets as I want and then I'm going to stop and I'm going to try and go back to not eating sweets, and also being vegetarian again because I've been eating a lot of meat and fish lately, and I've been making too many exceptions.
So I'm rededicating myself, and you're going to help me, yeah?
I'm saying it on here, so you all have to hold me accountable.
I am no longer going to eat sweets and biscuits and chocolate, or meat and fish, at least for the short term.
I'm going to try and dedicate myself to that practice again because I think it has a lot of benefits for me for my health and then also spiritually for eating meats.
I feel much closer to God when I don't eat meats.
If that makes sense?
This is something I need to think about.
I might eat sweets every now and then.
I know I'm going to a fancy restaurant with my dates in a few weeks for my birthday and there will be dessert at the restaurant.
So I will eat that because it's like a, it's a part of the menu we're getting, so it would be a bit silly to not eat it.
But yeah, back on not eating sweets.
I enjoyed eating them and I didn't get like a horrible sugar crash or anything, but I also feel like I can definitely live without them.
So the 10 .30 service was very joyful compared to Dawn Mass where we were all a bit tired.
I'm in the choir for my church, and we had prepared two really gorgeous pieces.
We sang Vivaldi's Gloria.
I'm gonna try and play some recordings of these pieces, but I might not be able to find them because of copyright, so I'll just sing a bit.
How about that um? Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis Dei.
Oh see, I'm getting out of tune now.
I'm not getting the tune right.
Let's try again. gloria gloria gloria gloria in excelsis deo deo deo so yeah i've forgotten it already anyway it's it's a difficult piece because it has a lot of long notes, complicated harmonies.
The timing is very specific but it was a lot of fun to sing.
We also sang ouya imose, which is a shona hymn.
and then we did a few rounds of that and then we did it in English um come all you people come and praise your maker come all you people come and praise your maker come all you people come and praise your maker come now and worship the lord now i want to point out it sounds much better when we're in the choir and i've warmed up my voice my voice is most definitely not warmed up today and i'm sitting down in my bedroom, so please don't judge any squiffy notes, any not so great notes.
I was really into it by that point.
I'm a morning person and I was just feeding off the energy of Easter Sunday, so as I sang I was like really dancing and putting my body into it, so I was bopping along.
And one of the clergy, one of the priests recorded it and showed me afterwards and it's quite funny because I'm there at the back of the choir like waving my arms as I sing.
For the Easter service we also had a baptism which is great because it means we get lots of people in the church, lots of people visiting.
Oh there's a baptism in today's story actually.
So it's when you pour water over a baby's head basically, that's the simple version.
But traditionally, actually, babies were only baptized on Easter Sunday.
So it's quite special to be baptized or to have a baptism on that day.
And as I mentioned, after the service, we had a delicious lunch and I got to catch up with lots of people.
So yeah, it was a gorgeous, gorgeous Easter.
The only issue is, you know, we have this four day holiday, right?
because for Easter we have the Friday off and the Monday off in UK, in the UK, but for Christians it's not like we get a full holiday because we're doing so many church services and some of them are quite hard work, so um, I agree with what one of the reverends said which was, we should get an extra day off as Christians but I have a bit of other holiday coming up so it's not the end of the world.
Anyway, Hopefully, um, you found this interesting.
I'm aware that some of my listeners are probably not religious, but, uh, hopefully it's still interesting, and, um, yeah, I just, I just really wanted to share, because I love celebrating Easter at my church. It felt very significant, given that, as you know from the last episode, I'm moving to China in August, so I really want to kind of make the most of my time here, really say goodbye to all the communities and the people I know here, and Easter really felt like a time of rebirth preparing me to move into this next chapter of my life.
So I'm very, very happy.
Anyway, thank you for listening to this introduction, and let's get on with the main episode, Saint George and the Dragon.
Bye! Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from okay to good and from good to great.
I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show.
Today's story is for pre -intermediate learners.
The name of the story is St. George and the Dragon.
You can find a transcript of the episode at easilystoriesininglish .com slash George.
That's easystoriesininglish .com slash George.
G -E -O -R -G -E. There, you can also download the episode as a PDF.
Today's episode is a legend that you can find in many cultures around Europe.
Actually, the 23rd of April is a holiday called Saint George's Day, which is why I'm releasing this episode now.
So, who was Saint George and why do people celebrate him?
Well, a saint, S -A -I -N -T, is a person who has been recognized as being very holy, very close to God.
Saints are usually people who have died.
The church decides that they were very good and holy people, and so they make them saints.
Some examples of famous saints are Saint Francis of Assisi who founded the Franciscan order of monks and Saint Valentine from whom we have Valentine's Day.
Saint George was a real person, but the legends about his life are so fantastical, so magical that we think of him more as a character.
The main legend about Saint George is that a dragon was attacking a city and he came to save the city by killing the dragon.
By the way, a dragon, D -R -A -G -O -N, is a magical animal, an animal that is not real.
However, we find stories of dragons in all cultures around the world.
Dragons can breathe fire and fly, and they like to eat people.
Dragons like to collect treasure, gold and jewels, and hide it in their home.
In Game of Thrones, Daenerys had several dragons.
What is interesting is that St George's Day is celebrated in very different ways in different countries.
The flag of England is a white background with a red cross on it.
This is different from the Union Jack, the flag of the UK.
The cross on the English flag comes from St. George.
And St. George is actually the patron saint of England.
A patron saint is a saint who supports one activity or group of people, so St. George is a very important figure, an important person for English history and culture.
Despite this, very few people still celebrate Saint George's Day in the UK.
When people do celebrate, they might dress up as characters from the legend of Saint George and do traditionally English things such as Morris dancing, a traditional English dance, or Punch and Judy shows, a traditional kind of English puppet theater for children.
By the way, I should say here that although these are parts of traditional English culture, I have only seen Morris Dancing a few times and I have never seen a Punch and Judy show in real life.
Actually, I think Morris Dancing is a bit strange.
You put bells on your legs and dance around so that the bells ring.
And Punch and Judy shows send pretty bad messages to children.
But if you're interested, I'll put some pictures and links in the transcripts at easy stories in English dot com slash George.
In Spain, people associate Saint George with the Reconquista.
The Reconquista was a period when Christian kingdoms fought to take back parts of Spain from the Muslim peoples who had taken them previously.
In some regions, people celebrate Saint George's day by burning a model of a dragon and reenacting battles, doing theatrical versions of battles that happened between Christians and Muslims in the past. In Catalonia, however, St George's Day is more like Valentine's Day.
Traditionally, boys give girls a red rose and girls give boys a book.
Well, I'd certainly prefer to get a book.
In Bulgaria, St George's Day takes place on the 6th of May and involves eating a whole lamb because there, Saint George is the patron saint of shepherds, people who look after sheep.
They also believed that Saint George helped plants grow and that he blesses the morning dew.
Dew is the water that appears on grass in the night and blessing is when a holy person gives something a special touch. For example, when a priest blesses bread and wine in the Catholic church. So because they believed that Saint George blessed the morning dew, people in Bulgaria would go out and collect the dew on Saint George's day and wash in it.
As you can see, Saint George is a figure, a person, who means different things in different places.
It's quite strange that European countries see Saint George as such an important figure in their own histories because Saint George was born in Turkey and died in Syria -Palestina, which is now part of Israel.
So he wasn't exactly European, but it is a good example of how powerful myths and legends can be.
Of course, there are many different versions of the story of Saint George and the dragon, and mine is unique as well.
You know I always like to change stories a bit and make them my own.
Don't worry, no dragons were hurt in the writing of this story.
Okay, I'll just explain some words that are in today's story.
A kingdom, K -I -N -G -D -O -M, is a country ruled, led by a king.
These days, there are few kingdoms because most countries are ruled by a president and a government.
The United Kingdom is obviously a kingdom, but we also have a Prime Minister who holds much more power than the king.
However, However, some countries like Brunei and Saudi Arabia have absolute monarchies, which means they are kingdoms that only have a king, and the king holds all the power.
A desert, D -E -S -E -R -T, is a place where it is very dry and there is only sand.
Some examples of deserts are the Sahara Desert and the Gobi Desert.
Deserts usually have very little plant life in them apart from small bushes and cacti.
Tame, T -A -M -E, means to train an animal so that it can live with humans and do what humans say.
For example, many people have to tame their dog so that it doesn't eat the furniture.
In the circus, they used to tame lions to jump through rings, and tame elephants to dance on balls, but they don't do this anymore.
A well, W -E -L -L, is a hole in the ground that has water in it.
People build wells so that they can easily access water.
Wells usually have a round stone wall around the top and you put a bucket into the well to take water out.
Of course, these days most people get water from taps in their house and never have to use a well.
To pass out means to go unconscious.
When someone passes out, they fall over and it is like they are asleep.
Passing out is quite dangerous.
It happens when you don't have enough air or you have a big shock.
For example, people might pass out in a car crash or they might pass out when they hear that a family member has died.
A knight, K -N -I -G -H -T is a person from the Middle Ages who worked for a lord or a king.
Knights wear heavy armour, clothes that protect them, they ride horses, and they fight for their lord or king.
Knights fight using swords and shields.
Sometimes there are big competitions called jousts where knights ride horses and fight with long weapons called lances.
In fairy tales, a knight often comes and rescues princesses.
Scratch, s -c -r -a -t -c -h, is when you do this.
Basically, you move your nails against something.
You might scratch yourself because you are itchy.
If a mosquito bites you, then you will probably scratch the place where it bit you.
Or, maybe you don't like someone, and so you scratch them.
Cats like to scratch things a lot.
A collar, C -O -L -L -A -R, is a small belt you put around your pet's neck.
Dogs and cats wear collars so that people know who owns them.
The collar usually has a tag on it, a small piece of metal that says who the owner is, where they live and what the dog or cat's name is.
Okay, so listen and enjoy.
St George and the Dragon Once upon a time there was a beautiful kingdom where everyone lived in peace.
The kingdom was so rich that the king decided to move the capital to the desert.
He wanted to show that they were so powerful they could tame the hot desert sands.
The capital was built with bricks of bright blue and yellow and it had a deep well at its centre.
From this well flowed all the water in the city so it became a central square with painted walls and a busy market place.
The king was proud of his city.
Nowhere else in the world could you buy such nice things, see such happy children and eat such delicious food.
But one day, a dragon flew down to the city.
It landed in the square and opened its mouth.
The people screamed and ran away.
But no fire came out of the dragon's mouth.
You may think, well, what is the problem then?
A dragon that cannot breathe fire is no danger.
But this monster had something far worse than the hottest fire.
He had horrible breath.
His breath smelt so bad that anyone who came near it passed out and didn't wake up for hours or even days.
So, very quickly, the square became empty, and the dragon lay down next to the well.
O king, come out and speak to me.
The king was very scared, but he did as the dragon said.
He held a wet towel over his face and stood very far away, but still he almost passed out from the dragon's breath.
What do you want, oh powerful dragon?
I can give you gold, silver, whatever you...
I have no need for gold and silver.
Said the dragon. What I want is food and don't give me any of that stupid rabbit food.
I want meat. The king told his men to bring the dragon five sheep.
They did so and the dragon ate them up, one by one.
Oh, their bleats filled the city that night!
The king hoped that the dragon would leave after he finished, but the next day, he simply burped and said, Another one.
So, each day a sheep was brought to the dragon, and when they ran out of sheep, they brought him a cow instead.
While this all happened, the king tried to solve the kingdom's problems. Because the dragon's breath went into the well, nobody could drink the water that came from it, so they had to buy water from other kingdoms and transport it into the city.
But when the other kingdoms heard about the dragon, they no longer wanted to come there and they charged higher prices and soon the kingdom was running out of money too.
Of course, many knights came to try and kill the dragon, but each one passed out before they could even scratch him, and the dragon happily ate them up.
The king did not like this, but at least it meant that their cows lasted longer.
Then, one day, the king found out that they had run out of cows.
there is no other option," he said.
We will hold a lottery, with all the people in the capital, and the person chosen will go to the dragon.
It was a horrible thing to do, but they had no other choice.
The dragon grew angrier every day and if he wasn't fed he might use his breath to to make them all pass out and then eat all of them.
Nobody could leave the city either because they couldn't afford the water to make the long journey through the desert.
So each day, a lottery was held and they chose one of the people in the city to go and be eaten by the dragon.
The king tried not to watch, not to listen, but he could not stop thinking about it.
And at night he could not sleep.
One day when the King saw which name had been chosen from the lottery, he almost threw up.
It was his daughter, the Princess Saraya.
No, said the King. I won't allow it!
But the people had already heard about the result of the lottery, and they were mad.
Their husbands, their wives, their children had already been chosen and fed to the dragon.
Why should the king be allowed to say no?
The princess heard about this and quietly left the city to go pray.
She had cried every day since the dragon came, but today she felt strangely calm.
This was the right thing to do, she thought.
She would show the city that they were strong.
As the princess sat on the sand and prayed, a knight rode by on his horse.
She thought he was coming to try and kill the dragon, so she said, "'The dragon's that way," and pointed at the city.
But I wouldn't try it.
None of the other knights could even scratch him.
I don't think anything can kill it.
A dragon, said the knight, whose name was George.
He sniffed. Ah, yes.
I can smell it, but I wonder why you want to kill him.
Dragons are terribly useful.
Difficult to tame, though, but they can carry heavy things, fly you useful.
That dragon has turned our water bad, eaten our sheep, our cows, and our people.
In fact, he is going to eat me today." I'm sorry, George said.
I did not realize this dragon was causing such problems. And it would be a shame if he ate such a beautiful girl.
Let me go and deal with him.
And before Soraya could respond, George rode into the city.
She ran after him but waited outside the square.
She could not hear much of what was happening but it didn't sound like fighting.
In fact he was talking to the dragon.
Could it be that this man was a monster?
That he was working with the dragon?
A few moments later there was a loud thump and then George walked out of the square whistling.
Is it dead? said Soraya hopefully.
Oh no, said George.
Like I said, that would be a waste.
He's passed out and I put a collar around his neck.
When he wakes up, he'll do whatever I say.
Soraya couldn't believe that he was serious about taming the dragon, but she was so happy that she said, oh, and went to kiss the knight's cheek.
But when she came near George, she smelled his breath and it was awful.
She passed out and landed with a thump on the ground.
Oh dear, said George.
George had beaten the dragon the same way the dragon had beaten the city.
He had used his bad breath.
Every day, George ate an onion for breakfast, garlic for lunch and blue cheese for dinner.
It was very useful for taming animals, but not so helpful for his love life.
George went into the square and waited for the dragon to wake up.
When he did, he roared at George, but the knight said, Ah ah ahh.
Remember, I can make you pass out with one breath.
See that collar around your neck?
It's to make sure you're a good dragon.
If you're good, I'll let you take it off.
The dragon was angry and was about to bite George's head off, but then George opened his mouth and the dragon smelt that mix of onion, garlic and blue cheese.
The dragon fell to the ground.
Fine, you have tamed me, for now.
George took the dragon inside the castle and told the king what had happened.
The king and his men opened all the windows, stood very far away from George and his dragon and tried to breathe as little as possible, but still they cried from how bad the two smelt.
You know this is a beautiful city, said George, I think I'd like to stay here if that's alright.
No, no, said the king, we're all too afraid of the dragon still, if that collar broke, look what might happen.
No, it's better that you leave. In fact, if you leave, I'll make you a saint !" A saint?
What do you think of that boy?
George said to the dragon who he had named Bartholomew.
Hmmm, said Bartholomew.
George was scratching him behind the ear which he liked very much. All right, said George, I accept.
Saint George. I like how it sounds.
So, the king quickly, very quickly, sainted George and the knight left the city with his pet dragon.
When the princess woke up and found out Saint George was gone she cried.
Don't worry, my dear said the king.
there are plenty of handsome knights for you to marry." No, I'm not crying because I'm sad.
I'm crying because I'm so happy he's gone.
Oh Father, he's smelled worse than your feet.
Saint George travelled with the dragon through the desert and finally, they came to a river.
Well, said George, now the time has changed.
I suppose I should baptise you.
Baptise? What does that mean?
Is it painful? Saint George laughed and pushed the dragon into the water.
There! You're baptized !" The dragon growled and pulled Saint George into the water.
They played and fought for hours.
Finally, Saint George explained why baptism was important.
He had given the dragon a real name, like a good Christian.
Now God knows that you're called Bartholomew as well." "'Oh,' said the dragon.
"'Well then, you should have baptised me sooner.
I went around so long with God thinking I didn't have a name.
How embarrassing.'" When they got out of the river, the water was a much darker colour than before.
Further downstream, there was a village, and the people who collected water from the river that day, wondered why it suddenly smelled of onions and old cheese.
And so, St. George saved the kingdom and found his dragon.
Every day they prayed together three times, and whenever they came to a city, people locked their doors and shut their windows.
"'You poor thing,' said Saint George to Bartholomew.
''They're still scared of you!' But really they all saw that the dragon was just a big dog with a collar around his neck.
It was Saint George they were afraid of.
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