WAWEL DRAGON

picture: Aleksandra Paczowska

Long ago in Poland’s early history, On the River Vistula, there was a small settlement of wooden huts inhabited by peaceful people who farmed  the land and plied their trades.

picture: Natalia Małyszek

Near this village was Wawel Hill with a castle. In the side of Wawel Hill was a deep cave. The entrance was overgrown with tall, grass, bushes, and weeds.

picture: Natalia Małyszek

No man had ever ventured inside that cave, and fearsome dragon lived within it. When it was angry, fire came from it’s mouth and people knew no peace.

picture: Aleksandra Paczowska

Every day people brought their sheep to the dragon. They did their best so that the dragon was not hungry and that he did not attack their homes.

picture: Julia Morawska

But one day there were not enough sheep in the whole kingdom. The dragon could not be fed to his heart's content and then it began to attack people and eat small children.

picture: Julia Morawska

The king invited his best knights to the castle and promised them that whoever kills the dragon would be able to marry the princess and receive half of the kingdom.

picture: Aleksandra Paczowska

Many brave knights made many attempts to kill the dragon, but none of them succeeded, and many of those who tried were killed.

picture: Julia Morawska

The hero in this part of the story differs. In the village lived a wise man, or a shoemaker or a shoe makers apprentice. Some said his name was Skuba.

picture: Natalia Małyszek

One day, Skuba went to the king and said he would try to defeat the dragon with a trick, not a sword. The king agreed.

picture: Natalia Małyszek

Skuba got some sheep and mixed a thick, yellow paste from sulfur. Then he took a sheepskin, stuffed it with sulfur and sewed i up. He fashioned horns and legs out of sticks and put the artificiaal ram at the mouth of the dragon’s cavern.

picture: Aleksandra Paczowska

The dragon came out as expected, saw the sheep, roared, rushed down the hill and devoured the sheep. Soon sulfur started burning  its stomach.

picture: Aleksandra Paczowska

The dragon had a terrible fire within him, and a terrible thirst. It rushed to the River Vistula and started drinking.

picture: Natalia Małyszek

It drank and drank and could not stop. The dragon began to swell, but still it drank more and more.

picture: Julia Morawska

It went on drinking till suddenly there was a great explosion, and the dragon burst.

picture: Natalia Małyszek

The king kept his promise and agreed to the wedding of a young shoemaker with his daughter.

picture: Aleksandra Paczowska

The people of Cracow celebrated in the streets, joyfully applauding Skuba. Song and merriment had no end. Skuba with the Princess lived happily ever after.

And the dragon? To this day, it is one of the symbols of Krakow. Every year, thousands of tourists visit Dragon's Den. Even a dragon stands on a pedestal near the Wawel castle and still breathes fire, but no one is afraid of him.