The passage below is rare description of a Talmudic sage battling a dragon, unsurprisingly, the sage relies on prayer rather than physical strength to defeat the monster.
The passage below is a technical discussion concerning iconography (the Talmudic sages strongly disapproved of the folk use of dragon imagery and other mythical and magical icons found in Ancient Israel and the neighbouring cultures).
Note: The verse in the passage below is translated in some bibles as "Sea Monsters" rather than dragons.
והקב"ה קרא אל ירמיה ואמר לו, גם תנין חלצו שד הניקו גוריהן וגו' (איכה ד ג), התנין הזה כשהוא בא לינק את אמו, היא רואה אותו מרחוק וחולצת שדיה בשביל שיינק, ולא יראה שדיה מכוסין, ואינו יונק, ובני לא עשו כן, אלא כשראו אותי נכנס לבית, בא נשה והכניס שם את הצלם כדי להוציאני מתוכו, [בתחלה עשו לו פרצוף אחד והעמידו למערב כביכול היתה השכינה הולכת לזויות אחרת מקום שלא נראה הפסל כשראה מנשה כך עשה לו ד' פרצופין שיראה השכינה ויסתלק.
Then the Holy One called unto Jeremiah and said to him (in Lam. 4:3): EVEN DRAGONS EXTEND A BREAST TO NURSE THEIR YOUNG; < THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE HAS BECOME CRUEL >. When the dragon (tannin) comes to nurse from its mother, she sees it from afar and extends her breasts for it to nurse; for it would not see her breasts, < if > covered, and would not nurse. Now my children do not act like this. Instead, when they saw me entering the house, Manasseh came and brought in the image in order to force me out of it. [At first they made a single face, and set it up to the west. The Divine Presence went, as it were, to another corner, a place where the image would not be seen. When Manasseh saw that, he made four faces so that the Divine Presence would see them and depart.
The midrashic source for the legend below is not listed in the original text.
See also
- Phoenix in the Torah, Sefaria Sheet by Harry Rozenberg - https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/93149?lang=bi
- Hebraic Beasts and Where to Find Them Part 6: Creatures of Fire, Sefaria Sheet by Ilan Kogan - https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/301569?lang=bi