The Story of the Gargouille
Origin France
Source Dragon: A Natural History Dr. Karl Shuker Simon & Schuster: New York, 1995
The story is part of the segment entitled "The Guivre and the Gargouille"
The Story
From the waters of the Seine, a monster with a great scaled head appears one day and starts mercilessly satureating the land until the entire region is flooded. The Archbishop of Rouen, St. Romain, with one volunteer, a prisoner on the death roll, sets out to conquer the monster. When St. Romain confronts the monster, he places two fingers one against another, forming a cross. This gesture immediately tames the Gargouille. It is led submissively back in town and burned to death.
Comments
The story of the Gargouille is found in the "Serpent Dragons" section of this collection of dragon stories. The Gargouille is described as a colossal monster with a long neck, a slender snout and eyes greaming like moonstones. It is also claimed that the word "gargoyle" is derived from the name of this monster, borrowing both its shape and the water spouting trait. The taming process is very similar between this and the story of The Tarasque.