Dragon of Wawel

Many, many years ago, when Cracow was still the capital of Poland, there lived in the castle on the Wawel mountain above the Wisla, King Krak with his daughter Wanda. All the citizens in Cracow loved their kind-hearted King and the loving Wanda. For many years everyone lived peacefully and provided for the well-being of their town. Amongst them lived one of the cobbler's family, a capable and hard-working apprentice by the name of Dratewka. One day the following happened: In a cave in the Wawel mountains, an evil dragon had settled. When he was angry he went into such a rage that the mountains shook and he breathed fire and smoke from his mouth. He made the whole town afraid. In order to calm him down the people put a sheep in front of his cave everyday. But this was not enough for him. Once a year even a small girl had to be sacrificed. Many of the citizens tried to fight against the dragon. However, no-one was able to beat him. The council of elders spent days and nights trying to find a solution but they couldn't find one. At long last there were no more girls left in Cracow, only Princess Wanda. The dragon became more and more impatient. Since there were no other girls to be found everyone knew that it was the king's daughter's turn. There was great mourning all over Cracow. The king announced to the whole country that he was looking for a brave knight who could defeat the dragon. Many courageous knights came and fought without success against the beast. Most were killed in their fight. When all hope had been abandoned, the cobbler's apprentice, Dratewka, appeared before the King. He asked for permission to fight the dragon. The king listened and agreed to what he was intending to do. The young man got to work on his plan straight away. From the butcher he got himself a sheepskin. From all the citizens he collected brimstone, salt, pepper and pitch. He filled the sheepskin with these and sewed it up tightly so it looked like a real sheep. At night he put the "sheep" in front of the entrance to the cave. The next morning the hungry dragon came out of the cave and ate up the sheep straight away. Shortly afterwards he felt a terrible burning all over his body. He tried to stop the burning by drinking massive amounts of water. He drank so much that the bed of the river Wisla could be seen. He carried on drinking until eventually he exploded with an enormous bang. There was great joy throughout Cracow. Dratewka married Wanda and they lived happily together for a very long time to come. .