Question about The Hobbit (or dragons in general)

[asterion]

@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.