# Question about The Hobbit (or dragons in general)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-hobbit-or-dragons-in-general/671267>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 15, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-hobbit-or-dragons-in-general/671267 "2013-10-15T01:22:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-hobbit-or-dragons-in-general/671267/101 "2013-10-23T21:33:54Z")

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> [@Miller](#):
>
> Was it Peter Dickinson’s _Flight of Dragons_? He theorized that dragons used gold coins for bedding because traditional materials, like straw or wool, would catch fire too easily. Gold coins made a bed that conformed to the dragon’s body shape, didn’t catch fire, and didn’t get tarnished by the dragon’s various toxic secretions.

And of course you’ve got one of the puzzle solutions in _Loom_. Turn the gold into straw, put the dragon to sleep, and boom, you’re out of there plus you’ve got one really pissed off dragon to deal with later.

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