Sharing the ‘American Dream’ in Europe, part 2

Courtesy of Charles Wieland

The cheeky Freiberg, Germany, cathedral stone mason gargoyle.

---

I tend to look for humor in situations where others may not. That might have to do with being an Army brat who frequently changed schools and used humor to fit in. But where better to seek dark humor than in countries that survived the Dark Ages? 

Cathy and I laughed at a statue of a fire-breathing dragon in Krakow. The Dark Ages dragon was eating the village’s virgin females, as the story goes when the local baron offered his daughter in marriage to the nobleman who slayed the dragon. When the royals failed, a local commoner succeeded, married the girl, and they lived happily ever after. I suggested that perhaps the baron simply should have ordered that the virgins have sex. A local joked that it was a better story for the Dark Ages because the dragon would starve in modern-day Krakow. 

But the best part of the story is that the dragon statue actually spews fire! You must admire people who take their legends to the limit.