Mythical Creatures/Folk (Spoilers ALL Books, including Words Like Coins)

[Farseer]

I think it is probably a phrase people have forgotten the origins of, much like many of our own sayings. So Fitz not knowing about dragons/serpents wouldn't matter.

Yes, I definitely agree, which is why I think there is more to this saying than meets the eye! That Fitz (or anyone else for that matter) doesn't know the origin of it, but can still come out with the saying in day-to-day conversation, tells me that it has had a long history of usage...maybe from right back to a time when El and Eda, the Skill, dragons and Elderlings etc were all just accepted as existing...since then, the knowledge of it all has been lost but the saying has survived!