The Founding of the Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures

(A note by Richard Dove, Librarian, prepared on the request of Connie Lionheart)

The Society was founded in A.D. 1000 by the first known universal companion, Abbess Hildegard, and eight friends. The records of the Society tell many tales about the original trustees, but all agree that Hildegard started life as a simple farmer’s child in what is modern day Germany. She was both revered and feared by fellow villagers for her amazing skill with animals, though none knew then what her gift meant.

Hildegard may have lived and died in obscurity had not one day an English knight, Sir Tristram of Oxenford, arrived in the village with his companion creature, the dragon Firedrake. All fled except Hildegard, who was so drawn to Firedrake that fascination overcame her fear. The dragon at once sensed the unique gift in the barefooted, ragged girl before him. Reaching out to Hildegard in her first experience of the bond, Firedrake explained how he had met Sir Tristram when the knight came on quest to kill him. The encounter ended with Sir Tristram’s conversion from dragon-slayer to dragon companion. The knight vowed henceforth to defend all remaining dragons and the pair had travelled far and wide on this new mission.

The tale is too long to tell in full here but suffice it to say that Hildegard agreed to go on quest with the dragon and his knight. In their travels they encountered others on a similar errand, all wishing to preserve their creatures from needless slaughter. These were Suliman of Cairo and his companion, the sphinx; Susanna of Jerusalem and her companions, the water sprites; and finally, Gregor of Moscow, companion to the firebird.

Under Sir Tristram’s patronage, Hildegard founded a community in Oxenford. Under the guise of a convent, it became the first headquarters of the Society and centre for the campaign to persuade people to disbelieve in what were now called ‘mythical’ creatures. The infant Society met with great success: on Hildegard’s death, there were thirty universals in training and many hundreds of other companions. The Society had branches in all known countries of the world. But the greatest sign of its achievement was the fact that few people still fully believed in dragons, unicorns or similar creatures. Hunting them was now ridiculed and dismissed as fantasies on the part of the boastful knights.

Half-belief mingled with doubt for a few centuries, but thanks to the invention of the printing press and an out-pouring of ‘rational’ disinformation from the Society in Oxenford (now known as Oxford), even that faded and the creatures could hide in the shadows.

Until now.