Photo by Dariusz Staniszewski

The Wawel Dragon is one of the most famous symbols of Krakow- one of the oldest and largest cities in Poland. The monument of the Dragon is located at the foot of the Wawel Hill in Krakow, and the legend about him is known to every Polish child. There are a few versions of the legend of the Wawel Dragon. Here it is one of them. 

The Wawel Dragon Legend 

A long time ago, Krakow was the capital city of Poland. King Krak was the city founder; he made it grow and gave it his name. People lived there in peace and happiness, until one day a scary, evil dragon flew to the city and chose a cave under the Wawel Castle as his new lair.

He was a huge beast with a long tail, jaws full of sharp teeth, and thick, green skin covered with hard, spiky scales.

The Wawel Dragon terrorised the King Krak’s city. He was constantly hungry but very lazy, so he demanded ransoms of cattle from the inhabitants. As the greedy beast gobbled up all the cows, hunger spread through the city.

No knight could kill the monster, until a poor, young shoemaker Dratewka declared that he would slay the monster. He told the King that all he needed to do that was his mind and shoemaking tools.

He stuffed a ram’s hide with sulphur and pitch and put it in front of the monster’s cave. The monster caught the bait and devoured the ram. Soon the snack made the dragon very thirsty. He started to drink from the Vistula River but water couldn’t extinguish burning sulphur and the beast exploded with a loud bang!

The clever shoemaker became a city hero and proved that being smart is more important than being strong. King Krak rewarded the boy by appointing him the Royal shoemaker, and gave him enough money to equip his new workshop in the castle.To this very day in Krakow there is a fire-breathing statue of the Wawel Dragon. Come and see for yourselves.

One of the film adaptations of the legend is a short feature science fiction film SMOK (DRAGON) directed by Tomasz Bagiński, a well-known Polish director, producer, illustrator and animator. He directed "The Cathedral" (2002) and other successful films.

Here is the link to the film. You can watch it with English subtitles.