Publisher's Synopsis
3RD Edition, 1st color illustrated edition, changes, corrections, lines added. The poem & story: "Unchained Dragon & the legend of the wandering Prophetess, Christkindl, that unchained & changed Him," was inspired by & set in Medieval chivalry & the ceremonies done to the making of Knights. Chivalry is the medieval knightly system that had its religious, moral, & social codes, with the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, that of courage, honor, courtesy, justice, & readiness to help the weak. Christkindl is German for the wandering Christ-child, an original Santa Claus type, but in German lore, a female saint or Santa, that wanders the whole earth teaching, gift giving, & testing our true charity, or non-charitable attitudes. Thus, this poem & story was inspired by Medieval Knight lore, ceremonies for chivalry, & German Christmas Christkindl traditions.The story poem: The wandering prophetess, Christkindl, seeking shelter from a storm, enters a cave & discovers a sleeping dragon, that wakes up. Charmed by her beauty, the dragon warms her by starting a small fire. Christkindl sings to the dragon about how, though unchained, he's been chained by invisible chains, to the treasure he had taken from humans, a thousand years ago. The invisible chains was his fear, that if he left his cave, someone would take some of his treasure, thus he stayed guarding it, & didn't realize that a 1000 or more years had gone by. Having wandered the whole world, Christkindl tells him about the beautiful world out side, & gets him to unchain himself from his fear & other negative traits, & free himself from the treasure that he couldn't spend as a dragon. Together they leave the cave & fly all over the world to enjoy the sights, & experience the world out side. The unchained dragon seeks to return the treasure & help the poor & needy peasantry. Thus, the dragon & the prophetess fly back to the palaces & kingdoms to return as much of the stolen treasure that they could, helping the poor people along the ways too. They sing to Knights & armies fighting, to get them all to stop their wars. They sing to the Kings & Queens & peasantry to encourage them all to change & have true charity & respect for each other. Stories spread about their good deeds, & the devil & his fellow fallen angels seek to counter them. In later lore about the early Christian doctrines about a preexistence, a life before mortal life, as spirits in a family in heaven. Later lore & art works about preexistence themes, says & depicts how some of the fallen angels, fell down into the seas, lakes, rivers, woods, & under the ground. Lore says that they became the evil dwarfs, goblins, cave trolls, underground folks, water creatures, black birds, insect-pests & more. Thus, in this story, they learn about the dragon's repentant change for good, & they want to get him back to their dark ways. Thus, they gather to figure out what they should do & how to go to war against them & the humans that were changed by the repentant dragon & Christkindl.This poem story tells what happens next, & explores the symbolism of chivalry, Knighting ceremonies, & the meanings behind the colors black & white in Whitesunday traditions. Plus, in white clothing put on Knights after their ceremonial baths. During the Middle Ages, beliefs in white protective garments are seen in art works of souls ascending into paradise, that have the traditional white robes on to protect them from the arrows shot at them by black devils. The story poem has a positive moral message like the moral plays of the Middle Ages.Color illustrations by Darell Thorpe, with some paintings of his father, James Eldon Thorpe, 8-23-1935 to 6-13-2018. A couple paintings show faces in the mountains & rocks, "The Goblin Valley," plus, "Red Castle Mountain & Lake" art works from different angles. Deer scenes, Fall River, oil paintings, with a water color one of ships at sea during the evening. Volume 2 in the works.
