Oh, it's a weird mix of local mythologies combined with a deep fear of reptiles that's pretty much caused by a misunderstanding. Add in a few discoveries of dinosaur bones in quarries and you have the recipe for a huge, enduring stew of dragon legends.

[Beep-Beep chirps his siren happily and scrambles over to hunker down in the sand with them. His doors open, and his stereo starts faintly playing "Girl from Ipanema".]Okay. Guess it will make more sense with more input.

That would be a very good idea. It would also give you something absolutely priceless to negotiate with humans with. That era is called the "Dark Ages" for very good reasons--historians and scholars were very few and far between for a while.

[She smiles.] Yeah, I don't like the enforced vacation, but what I've learned already could save my world, so I'm not complaining.