From the book "Gods About Us", Max Rempel
Some of the aliens who governed the human colonies on Earth had the ability to transform into humanlike birds, lizards, and dragons. They did this not to instill fear, but by the nature of their physiology. So the legends of ancient gods - birds, lizards, and dragons - are based on real facts. As you might guess, humans are not the only intelligent beings in the universe, and the forms of intelligent lizards, birds, and dragons appeared earlier in the universe than human ones. Again, by the nature of their physiology, some of the aliens really did eat people, and the people worshipped them, since they had been created by them. I am convinced that Schwartz and Bulgakov knew what they were writing about.
Schwartz, Yevgeny. The Dragon. 1944.
Bulgakov, Mikhail. The Master and Margarita. 1966