The Legend of La Gargouille

Once upon a time in the 7th century (around the 600s), in the town of Rouen, there was a terrible dragon known as La Gargouille.  La Gargouille was a most formidable creature with a long neck, great bat wings, and reptilian jaws that sounded like the guillotine when they snapped shut.  He made his home in a cave by the River Seine (located in France).  La Gargouille could breathe fire and water.  He often torched the nearby village and caused floods.  He also liked to munch on the ships that were so unlucky as to cross his path.  The villagers of Rouen were so terrified by La Gargouille that they would offer him a sacrifice every year. Although La Gargouille, like most dragons, preferred young maidens the frugal towns people usually brought forth a convict (who was most likely sentenced to die anyway).
Enter Saint Romanus (a.k.a. Romain), who agreed to get rid of the dragon if all the towns people would be baptized and build a church in his name.  The people were willing, so with a cross and the annual convict in tow Saint Romanus set out to defeat La Gargouille.  Using the sign of the cross Saint Romanus was able to conquer the beast.  He returned with the convict and the now docile dragon to Rouen.  There La Gargouille although tamed, was burned at the steak.  Curiously, the head and neck of La Gargouille would not burn seeing as they had been tempered by the dragon's own fiery breath.  Saint Romanus nailed the head and neck of La Gargouille upon his new church, where it became a water spout forever more.
I like to think that La Gargouille, being a magical creature, could still have talked had he anything to say to the town's people and no water issuing from his mouth.  Instead, I imagine that he simply grimaced and frowned upon them from above as Gargoyle's still do today.  I've read that there are different versions, differing particularly in how exactly Romanus subdued the dragon and who was (or wasn't) with him.  I find this legend quite charming and fascinating and I hope that you've enjoyed my retelling of it as much as I've enjoyed reading it.

Technically a gargoyle is only a gargoyle when it is a water spout in the shape of animals and people,  like La gargouille which descended from the Latin word gargula which means "gullet" or "throat", gargle, gargle, gargle.  I love seeing how words can be traced back to their roots in Latin.  The proper term for "gargoyles" that are not water spouts are "Grotesques" or "Chimeras" or even "Hunky Punk"!  "Hunky Punk" is from the somerset dialect (somerset being in the west country of England).  And I think it's an awesome name because it's so fun to say!  It is thought that Grotesques and Hunky Punks, since they don't serve a functional purpose, might have been put on churches to guard them and ward away evil spirits.  It is also supposed that these formidable images were also put on churches to depict moral stories to people in a time when most people were illiterate.  Now gargoyles and Hunky Punks are mainly used as interesting decorations such as the gargoyles on Washington Cathedral.

What I was really interested in trying to find out in my research on gargoyles is when did they start coming to life?  I remembered from the animated series from Disney that gargoyles were stone all day and came to life at night. I found a charming children's book called Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting that also shows gargoyles coming to life at night to make mischief.  The t.v. show and book are both from the 90's, however.  This is all I can find on Gargoyles coming to life!  I wonder if this idea is a modern fabrication...

Resources:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia Gargouille
The Gargoyle
Benton, Janetta Rebold. Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997. Print.
Haldane, Suzanne. Faces on Places. New York: The Viking Press, 1980. Print.