The well dragon—­the French “draco”—­also recalls the Babylonian water monsters.  There was a “dragon well” near Jerusalem.[172] From China to Ireland rivers are dragons, or goddesses who flee from the well dragons.  The demon of the Rhone is called the “drac”.  Floods are also referred to as dragons, and the Hydra, or water serpent, slain by Hercules, belongs to this category.  Water was the source of evil as well as good.  To the Sumerians, the ocean especially was the abode of monsters.  They looked upon it as did Shakespeare’s Ferdinand, when, leaping into the sea, he cried:  “Hell is empty and all the devils are here".[173]

There can be little doubt but that in this Babylonian story of Creation we have a glorified variation of the widespread Dragon myth.  Unfortunately, however, no trace can be obtained of the pre-existing Sumerian oral version which the theorizing priests infused with such sublime symbolism.  No doubt it enjoyed as great popularity as the immemorial legend of Perseus and Andromeda, which the sages of Greece attempted to rationalize, and parts of which the poets made use of and developed as these appealed to their imaginations.

The lost Sumerian story may be summarized as follows:  There existed in the savage wilds, or the ocean, a family of monsters antagonistic to a group of warriors represented in the Creation legend by the gods.  Ea, the heroic king, sets forth to combat with the enemies of man, and slays the monster father, Apsu, and his son, Mummu.  But the most powerful demon remains to be dealt with.  This is the mother Tiamat, who burns to avenge the deaths of her kindred.  To wage war against her the hero makes elaborate preparations, and equips himself with special weapons.  The queen of monsters cannot be overcome by ordinary means, for she has great cunning, and is less vulnerable than were her husband and son.  Although Ea may work spells against her, she is able to thwart him by working counter spells.  Only a hand-to-hand combat can decide the fray.  Being strongly protected by her scaly hide, she must be wounded either on the under part of her body or through her mouth by a weapon which will pierce her liver, the seat of life.  It will be noted in this connection that Merodach achieved success by causing the winds which followed him to distend the monster’s jaws, so that he might be able to inflict the fatal blow and prevent her at the same time from uttering spells to weaken him.

This type of story, in which the mother monster is greater and more powerful than her husband or son, is exceedingly common in Scottish folklore.  In the legend which relates the adventures of “Finn in the Kingdom of Big Men”, the hero goes forth at night to protect his allies against the attacks of devastating sea monsters.  Standing on the beach, “he saw the sea advancing in fiery kilns and as a darting serpent....  A huge monster came up, and looking down below where he (Finn) was, exclaimed,