Dragons, Unicorns and Mythical Creatures: Where They Come From

Dragons curl across Chinese porcelain, unicorns gaze out from Scottish castles and 500-year-old tapestries, and mermaids appear in sailors' tales from around the world. Mythical creatures are some of the most fun subjects to color, and their real histories are just as fascinating as the legends.

Here is a tour of five favorites, drawing on museums, libraries and historians, with coloring ideas for each.

Dragons

Dragons appear in many cultures, but they do not all mean the same thing.

Chinese dragons

In China, the dragon is a creature of good fortune. The Victoria and Albert Museum (opens in a new tab) explains that the Chinese dragon is an auspicious animal, not one that breathes fire, and that dragon designs on the emperor's robes were an indirect statement that the emperor would also bring good fortune to the country. Dragons were also linked to rain. The V&A describes a tile dragon made for the roof corners of palaces and temples, explaining that rain was believed to fall (opens in a new tab) because the dragon's mouth was open and spouting water.

Look for details that signal status and meaning. On an imperial scroll box at the Cleveland Museum of Art (opens in a new tab), a five-clawed dragon appears on each end, a design reserved only for an emperor. Some designs show a dragon chasing a "flaming pearl," which the V&A notes represents wisdom, enlightenment and spiritual essence (opens in a new tab).

European dragons

In medieval Europe, dragons were often cast as villains. The British Library (opens in a new tab) notes that dragons are almost everywhere in medieval manuscripts and often appear as the enemy of saints and angels, such as St George, St Margaret and the Archangel Michael. Medieval bestiaries, or books of beasts, describe the dragon as a kind of serpent, larger than all other animals, that lives in caves and has great strength in its tail.

Today's dragons are almost always reptilian, winged and fire-breathing, but the British Library points out that medieval artists drew everything from lizard-like creatures with duck-like feet to winged, lion-like beasts.

Wales put its dragon on a flag. Museum Wales (opens in a new tab) explains that the red dragon is the heraldic symbol of Wales, that the dragon as a symbol was probably brought to Britain by Roman legions, and that it was officially recognized in 1959 and is now widely used as the national flag.

Coloring idea: Give a Chinese-style dragon a long, winding body among clouds and waves, and try five claws on each foot. For a medieval dragon, invent your own mix of features the way manuscript artists did.

Unicorns

An early Greek account of a one-horned animal comes from Ctesias, a physician who spent 17 years at the court of the King of Persia, returned to Greece in 398 B.C. and wrote Indica, a book about the lands of India. As translated in a scholarly article by Chris Lavers (opens in a new tab), Ctesias described wild asses in India as large as horses, with a horn on the forehead that was white at the base, black in the middle and crimson at the tip. He also reported a belief that drinking from cups made of these horns protected people from poison. Lavers argues that the animals behind these early descriptions can be found in the highlands of Central Asia.

Later, a real animal helped shape the legend. The Natural History Museum in London (opens in a new tab) explains that narwhal tusks, which are actually a long canine tooth, were once highly prized. They were often collected by Inuit and traded to Europeans as actual unicorn horn, and the tusk's spiral shape may have influenced how unicorn horns have been drawn from medieval times to today.

Unicorns also became royal emblems. Historic Environment Scotland (opens in a new tab) calls the unicorn Scotland's national animal and points to unicorns carved on palaces, castles and market crosses. It also notes that the famous Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries were made in the Low Countries in the early 1500s and are now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cloisters in New York.

Coloring idea: Give your unicorn a spiral, narwhal-style horn, or try Ctesias's description with a white, black and crimson horn.

Griffins

A griffin has the body of a lion with the head and wings of a bird of prey. According to the University of Portsmouth (opens in a new tab), griffins are among the oldest mythological creatures, first appearing in Egyptian and Middle Eastern art in the 4th millennium B.C. and becoming popular in ancient Greece in the 8th century B.C.

You may have heard that griffin legends began when ancient people found dinosaur fossils. Folklorist Adrienne Mayor proposed that Protoceratops skeletons in Central Asia inspired the griffin. But a 2024 study by University of Portsmouth paleontologists Mark Witton and Richard Hing found that none of the arguments held up. For example, they note that Protoceratops fossils are found hundreds of kilometers from ancient gold sites, and that griffin art is clearly based on big cats and birds. It is a great example for kids of how scientists test an exciting idea.

Coloring idea: Use real animal references. Color the back half like a lion with tawny gold, and the front like an eagle with browns and creamy white.

The phoenix

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the phoenix in his account of Egypt. In The Histories (opens in a new tab), he says he had only seen pictures of this sacred bird, which the people of Heliopolis said came to Egypt once every 500 years. He describes it as most like an eagle, with plumage partly golden and partly red, and repeats a story that it carried its father to the temple of the sun inside an egg of myrrh. Herodotus himself found that story hard to believe.

The tale kept changing. A classical dictionary entry (opens in a new tab) traces later versions in which a new phoenix rose from the old bird's nest, and a later version, popular in modern times, in which the phoenix gave itself to the flames. It also notes similar marvelous birds in other traditions, such as the Simorg of Persia.

East Asia has its own long-tailed phoenix. The Cleveland Museum of Art (opens in a new tab) explains that the phoenix originated in Chinese mythology and, in Japan, became an auspicious symbol of political authority by the 16th century, rather than the emblem of immortality it is in Western lore.

Coloring idea: Follow Herodotus and use red and gold, then add flame-shaped tail feathers in orange and yellow.

Mermaids

The NOAA National Ocean Service (opens in a new tab) describes mermaids as legendary sea creatures that maritime cultures have told stories about since time immemorial. It notes, for example, that the Aboriginal people of Australia call mermaids yawkyawks. Then it answers the big question: no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.

Real animals may have played a part. National Geographic (opens in a new tab) reports that in 1493 Christopher Columbus wrote that he "quite distinctly saw three mermaids," and found them less lovely than their reputation. Manatees and dugongs, known as sirenians, have long fueled mermaid myths, and their forelimbs and necks that let them turn their heads may have made them look human from far away.

Coloring idea: Color a mermaid's tail with layered blues and greens, then add a manatee friend swimming nearby.

Make your own field guide

Mythical creatures are a perfect way to mix art and research. Color one creature per page and add a "field notes" box: where the legend comes from, which real animals it resembles and one fact you learned. If your young artist wants a whole menagerie, Enchanted Bestiary collects more than 80 mythical creatures to color.

Try it

• Start with free dragon coloring pages.
• Add some sparkle with free unicorn coloring pages.
• Build your bestiary with free mythical creature coloring pages.