A story of Wawel’s Dragon

There are many versions of the folk tale. This is

one of them.

A long, long time ago, when Prince Krak was the ruler of Kraków, many young girls were missing, and no one in Kraków knew what happened to them.

It turned out that there was an evil dragon living in a big cave under the Wawel Hill. The dragon was stealing farm animals and young girls.

Prince Krak said: "The person who kills the dragon will get half of the country and marry my daughter."

Many brave soldiers tried to kill the dragon, but none of them succeeded. Finally, a young shoe-maker came up with an idea! He filled a sheep's skin with sulphur and left it in front of the dragon’s cave.

The greedy dragon saw the sulphur-filled sheep and ate it in one bite. Soon, it started to feel a burning pain in his stomach. The pain got worse. It burned more and more. Feeling thirsty, it ran to the Vistula River and started to drink fast. He drank and drank, but it was still burning. So it continued to drink, until it exploded!

The city was rid of the mean dragon, and the shoemaker got his prize from the ruler and married his daughter.

By

Karina Borek

The end