The Wawel Dragon is a mythical creature that was born in Krakow, Poland. The fire-breathing dragon wreaked havoc on the town day and night. 2 The mythical dragon, also known as "The Dragon of Wawel Hill," was perched above the Vistula River and at the foot of Wawel Hill. He had a perfect view of the town and knew exactly when the right time to feed was. The King of the land was tired of the dragon destroying the crops and all other sources of food. So, the King had enough and told the town that the first one to kill the dragon could have his daughter in marriage. Immediately the townsmen and knights tracked down the dragon and tried to take its life. The dragon’s scales were so thick that the weapons of all the townsmen and the weapons of the knights could not pierce his skin and kill the beast. The town thought it was going to be like this forever, a dragon destroying everything the people created.
Nobody thought there was a way they could kill the dragon, all the knights from not only the King's kingdom tried to kill the dragon but also knights from other kingdoms wanted to try and kill the unkillable beast and take the hand of the daughter as a reward. More and more knights went to kill the dragon, but as they left, they never returned. The longer the year went on, the less amount of people tried to kill the dragon. As the town and the kingdom was scared for their lives and nobody attempted to kill the dragon anymore, a shoemaker came to the king one day and asked if he could have a shot at killing the mythical being. The king thought he would die because the shoemaker knocked on the gates with no weapons, no armor and no reputation. Out of curiosity the king granted him his request and the shoemaker requested a few ingredients. The shoemaker was a wise, young man who needed lambskin, Sulphur, and mustard seed. He set out for the dragon the next morning.
That night the shoemaker mixed the ingredients and created a powerful substance not even the dragon could overcome. The next morning the shoemaker set out to the foot of Wawel Hill and placed his dead lamb with Sulphur and mustard seed down, waiting in nearby bushes for the dragon to awake.
When the dragon awoke, he immediately stepped out of his lair hungry and angry. He spotted the dead lamb and went over to it immediately. As soon as it was digested the dragon felt weird and did not move. His stomach was roaring and he had a major stomach ache, he headed towards the Vistula River, trying to get the burning sensation out of his stomach, he drank the river, he kept drinking and drinking until the river dried up. When he sat up and tried to breathe fire, he couldn't. Immediately the dragon exploded. All of the people that could see the dragon erupted in excitement and ran towards the shoemaker. The shoemaker knew he was taken for granted and he showed everyone that he was smarter than most knights and he gets to take the king’s daughter as his wife. Nobody ever saw the shoemaker again.
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| This image is a statue of the Wawel Dragon that the people of Krakow made to represent the death of the beast that laid waste to their village. |
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| The Wawel Dragon was depicted as a giant beast who lived at the bottom of the hill next to the Vistula River as shown above. |
Sources:
HTTPS://Facebook.com/polishhousewife. 2 “Smok Wawelski, the Wawel Dragon.” Polish Housewife, 20 Apr. 2018, polishhousewife.com/smok-wawelski-the-wawel-dragon/.
“Wawel Dragon.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Oct. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_Dragon.
“Myths and Legends.” The Legend of the Wawel Dragon (A Polish Traditional Legend), myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/userstory6306-the-legend-of-the-wawel-dragon-a-polish-traditional-legend.html.
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