Editing Princess and dragon (section)

==Modern versions==
[[File:За единую Россію.jpg|right|thumb|Russian civil war [[propaganda]] poster from 1919: [[White movement|White Russian]] knight is fighting the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Red Russian]] dragon]]

In the 1959 animated film ''[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'', [[Walt Disney]] concluded the tale by having the [[Wicked fairy (Sleeping Beauty)|wicked fairy]] [[Maleficent]] transform herself into a dragon to withstand the prince, converting the fairy tale to one with the princess and dragon theme.<ref>John Grant and John Clute, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', "Sleeping Beauty" p 874 {{ISBN|0-312-19869-8}}</ref>

In [[Ian Fleming]]'s ''[[Dr. No (novel)|Dr. No]]'', both the book and film versions feature a tank in the shape of a dragon that protects [[Julius No|Dr. No]]'s island from superstitious intruders. [[James Bond (literary character)|James Bond]] and [[Honey Ryder|Honeychile Rider]] are menaced by the "dragon", destroy it, have their friend Quarrel killed and are captured by the crew of the Dragon tank. Ann Boyd's 1967 book ''The Devil with James Bond'' explores the theory of the updating of the Princess and dragon genre.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

In modern [[fantasy]] works, the dragon may hold the princess captive instead of eating her. [[Patricia Wrede]] spoofed this concept in ''[[Dealing with Dragons]]''.

A feminist subversion of the concept for young readers is [[Robert Munsch]]'s ''[[The Paper Bag Princess]]'', in which a princess outwits a dragon to save a prince (her betrothed, whom she proceeds ''not'' to marry upon him insulting her makeshift clothing instead of thanking her).

In [[Jay Williams (author)|Jay Williams]]'s tale ''The Practical Princess'', a dragon demands that a king should sacrifice his daughter to him so that he will leave the rest of the kingdom alone. But the princess saves herself by making a "princess dummy" out of straw and filling it with boiling pitch and tar. The princess dresses the [[Straw man (dummy)|straw dummy]] in one of her own gowns, then goes to the dragon's cave where she offers herself as a sacrifice. The unwitting dragon swallows the dummy whole, and the pitch and tar explode inside the dragon's stomach, killing him. Afterwards, the princess observes, "Dragons are not very smart."

In the [[Isaac Asimov]] short story ''Prince Delightful and the Flameless Dragon'', it is revealed that Dragons used to be slain as part of a passage from princehood to adulthood, though after a while, they became a protected species. Contrary to popular myth, they do not eat princesses as they tend to smell of cheap perfume and give indigestion.

In animated television series ''[[Wander Over Yonder]]'' episode, "The Hero", Sir Brad Starlight, the bumbling knight who believes in fairy tales, sets off to rescue the princess from the dragon king. However, it turns out that the princess and the dragon king are in love with each other and are engaged to marriage; as the dragon himself is actually a good guy and the princess herself does not need to be rescued.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bubbleblabber.com/2014/04/review-wander-yonder-hero-birthday-boy/|last=Schwarz|first=John|title=Review: Wander Over Yonder "The Hero; The Birthday Boy"|website=Bubble Blabber|date=April 1, 2014|access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref>