Once upon a time a monster dragon lived in a cave near the river Seine, near Paris, whose name was La Gargouille. He had a very long reptilian neck, a hawkish spout and fleshy wings, wings that expanded to an enormous span to carry him through the air as quick as light, with the jittery movements of a bat. Over the years he would douse many a ship to their watery deaths by spouting ungodly amounts of water upon them. Were that not enough, he could also spout long molten-hot strands of fire! Naturally, he caused primordial fear and loathing in the townspeople. A tradition developed in the hamlet known as Rouen whereby the people would offer up a victim to placate the monster. Usually, they would kill two birds by offering a nasty criminal they wanted dead anyhow, but for the best results, sad to say, it was when they offered up maidens that the dragon would back off in earnest. Finally, in around 600 a certain St Romanus came along and promised to do away with the dragon once and for all. The catch was the townspeople had to agree to be baptized and follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was easily accommodated and adroitly St. Romans subdued the beast by inflicting him with what amounted to Kryptonite, the Cross! The beast lost all his powers and was led by his throat by a leash made from the robes of the priests. They could not risk the beast gaining back his strength to seek revenge, so they burned the nasty at the stake. Problem was, because its own flames cured his neck, there was no fire hot enough to turn it to ash. Thus, they took these remains, the vastly imposing head and terrifically long neck, and mounted them for all to see on the church. This then, became the prototype for the Gargoyle for hundreds of years, and even until this day.