WAWEL DRAGON

There are quite a few symbols of Krakow but WAWEL DRAGON is one of the most recognizable.

 In the dim and distant past, in a den at the foot of Wawel Hill, there lived a terrible dragon. Nobody could tell where did it come from and why it  decided to settle there.

Everyone  in the city trembled with fear but nobody knew  what to do to get rid of that beast out of the city.

Our  legendary ruler Krak came up with an idea that a knight who defeats the dragon will win his daughter’s hand and receives a royal crown.

Many brave knights made their way from different countries to reach Krakow  to defeat the dragon but nobody was able to kill it.

Until one day  when a young man, a shoemaker, came to the city and wanted to see the King.

He only asked the king for a lambskin, some sulphur and mustard seed and a place where he could stay for a night. The king agreed  having nothing to lose.

The young man was working   hard the whole night  to fill the lambskin with sulphur, pitch and mustard seed to finally  sew up the hole of the lambs belly and make it ready for the dragon.

At sunrise he laid the lamb  in front of the dragon’s cave and quickly hid in the nearby bushes waiting to see what was going to happen.

As every morning the dragon woke up very hungry ,only when  it left his cave he saw a dead lamb lying there.

It took him only a few seconds to jump to it and swallow it but only then his stomach started to burn. The Dragon  turned to the Vistula river and started to drink water .The more it drank the more it felt thirsty and all of a sudden it exploded.

The young man’s plan  appeared to be very successful  and thanks to him Krakow’s citizens could live with no more fear.

PS. I hope you like the legend , just to mention there are 3 different  versions of  it 😉 Someday I will tell you  the other two .