Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Dragon of Many Tails, Fable XII

after Jean-Baptiste Oudry; Engraver: Claude-Olivier Gallimard

Date

c. 1753–55

Medium

Etching and engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

When a guard boasted to a visiting envoy that his prince ruled over men who kept armies at their own expense, the envoy replied with an account of being attacked by a fearsome many-headed dragon only to see the beast rendered powerless as it became entangled in the woods. He went on to say that another dragon soon arrived, now with one head and many tales. This dragon could swiftly navigate the hedge-head, body, and tails an unstoppable wedge. The envoy commented to the boastful guard that the first dragon was the prince's force, and the second one, the envoy's. France, Europe

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