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"More expensive than dragon's crap"
From Mythopedia, the free encyclopedia.

The idiom "more expensive than dragon's crap" (also found in archaic form "the price of Vexrescen's Excrement") is an expression that means that something is absurdly expensive without having actual inherent value. The expression has its origins in the previous era and has somehow found its way into Mythodea today, however its meaning has been altered through time.

Origins and early uses
The earliest known version of the expression has been brought to light by Dr. Nyctarchos Melanolepes of Cressida's university who divined its origin during his research for his dissertation on "The Great Black Dragon Vexrescen" and involves a dwarf bandit who observed Vexrescen looking for her lair and ended up stealing manure under the misconception that it was valuable. ''I was shocked when my scholarly divinations on the life and works of the magnificent Vexrescen indicated an anecdotal story of a dwarf who mounted an expensive operation to excavate manure from outside her lair looking to get rich. People from the previous era knew that dragon manure does not have any particular value. However things became curious when an ambitious dwarf staked the great dragon looking for a way into her lair. As it was shown to me, the great dragon exited her nest with the intention to defecate, and - as these magnificent beasts are known to do - cover it with a substantial quantity of dirt. For reasons that were not shown in my visions, the dwarf only saw the dragon covering something with dirt and fly off and assumed that a treasure was buried on site.''

''Convinced that it was something valuable, he hired laborers, carts and excavation gear to dig up the treasure. Afraid that he would be attacked by his workers upon its retrieval, he also hired bodyguards of high repute. It is estimated that he had to pay more than two and ten thousand gold pieces in this pursuit and a total of twenty three workers and thirty six guards were employed for the excavation process. Upon completion of the excavation, it was identified that the percieved treasure was, in fact, Vexrescen's excrement. The dwarf was ridiculed and the "Vexrescen's Excrement" was used to describe the value of 12.000 gold pieces. Anything that costed above this amount of money was deemed above "The price of Vexrescen's Excrement". It seems that through the years the expression lost its connection with the dragon through which it was created and to the exact amount of gold it referred to.''

Contemporary use in Mythodea
The expression has survied in several regions of modern Mythodea with slight variations in the meaning such as in Nikka's "Πλουσιώτερον ἢ τὸ ἀμορφωτὸν τοῦ δράκοντος." which, although is translated in the national language (Υψηλή) verbatim, it has evolved to mean that wealth has no value to a person. Another example of the expression is Felsangar's version "Carior quam stercus draconis" and is used to derogatorily describe the actions of low class aristocracy motivated by greed.