They used these to push the dragons' necks away if they came too close or began to look aggressive. Two guards came with us, armed with long sticks, which branched into a 'Y' at the end. When the last of them had left, a park guard told us that if we wished to we could climb down into the gully and see the dragons close to, and with swimming heads we did so. If you were walking by yourself and you came across one, that might be different, but it's kind of like a puppet show.' 'The dragons are just thrown in.Īnd of course, with all the strings and the goats and the tourists, well, it's just comedy really. 'I like the landscape,' she said, airily. As they did so a lone Englishwoman in the party confided to us that she didn't actually care much about the dragons. It was in fact at least an hour or so before all of the goat had gone, by which time the party had drifted, chatting, back to the village. 'He probably wants fresher meat,' growled her husband. Just as I was making the charitable assumption that the binoculars were just a diversion from having actually to watch the hellish floor show in the pit, the woman who now had possession of them suddenly exclaimed delightedly, 'Gulp, gulp gulp! All gone! What a digestive system! Now he's smelling us!' 'Al? Al, take a look at these binoculars - and see how heavy they are!' 'It really is a superb pair of binoculars, Pauline. 'Oh, that really does magnify it!' she said. You know, with these it's the size I really thought we'd be seeing.' He handed the binoculars to his wife. 'Boy, this makes it big, Pauline,' said a man standing near me, watching through his binoculars. At first nip a thick green liquid flooded out of the glistening grey coils, and as the meal proceeded, the head of each dragon in turn became wet with the green liquid. It sniffed and licked at the air, and then started to eat the intestines of the goat from off the head of the first dragon, until the first dragon rounded on it, and started to claim part of its meal for itself. The dragon seemed, for the moment, not to take any further interest.Īnother dragon then heaved itself into motion and approached. They lay there for a while, steaming gently. A great muddle of intestines slipped out of the goat and flopped over the dragon's head. At last one reared itself up, approached the hanging carcass and ripped gently at its soft underbelly. They were very well fed and sleepy dragons. The dragons took only a lethargic interest in it for a while. It rocked and swayed in the breeze as they winched it down to the dragons lying in the gully. Once it was dead, they cut off one of its back legs for the dragon behind the fence, then took the rest of the body, and fastened it on to the hook on the blue nylon rope.