The Wawel Dragon
A dragon in a cave beneath Kraków's royal hill was undone by a clever trick: a sheep stuffed with sulphur.
What was reported
In Polish legend, the Wawel Dragon lived in a cave beneath Wawel Hill in Kraków, devouring livestock and terrorising the people, until a shoemaker's apprentice named Skuba offered it a sheep stuffed with sulphur. The dragon swallowed it, grew so thirsty that it drank from the Vistula until it burst.
The cave, the Dragon's Den, can be visited, and outside it stands a metal dragon statue that breathes real fire every few minutes.
Explanations offered
The legend was first written down by the chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek around 1200. Some suggest it was inspired by finds of large fossil bones, and old bones hang at the entrance of Wawel Cathedral as 'dragon bones'. The dragon is a symbol of Kraków.
- When
- Written down around 1200
- Where
- Wawel Hill, Kraków, Poland
- Witnesses
- Polish tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.