A greedy dragon lives in a hole under Wawel Hill, and nobody in Kraków feels safe. Every morning the people leave it three calves or three rams, and old King Krak cannot think how to free them from the beast.
Long ago, in the town of Kraków, a great dragon lived in a hole under Wawel Hill. Today a castle stands on that hill, but back then there was none.
The dragon was terribly greedy. It could swallow three head of cattle in a single gulp, and it carried off people too and ate them. Nobody in town felt safe, in the fields or at home.
So the people of Kraków agreed to pay the dragon a tribute. Every morning they led three calves or three rams to the mouth of the hole and left them there. The dragon crawled out and ate them, and the next day the people had to bring three more.
The town was ruled by King Krak, an old man with a gray beard. For a long time he could not think how to free his people from the beast. Then a shoemaker named Skuba came to see him.
“Your Majesty,” said Skuba, “the dragon eats whatever we put in front of its hole, and it never looks twice. Let’s give it something that will do it no good.”
King Krak listened, and he did just as the shoemaker advised. He had a calf’s skin stuffed full of sulfur and sewn up tight, so that it looked like a calf lying asleep.
Early the next morning the stuffed calf was laid in front of the hole, in place of that day’s tribute. The people of Kraków watched from across the river and hardly dared to breathe.
Out came the dragon. It spotted the calf, took it for its breakfast, and gulped it down whole.
But the sulfur began to smolder inside the dragon, and it went on burning for a long time. The dragon’s belly grew hotter and hotter. It dragged itself to the Vistula and drank, and drank, and drank, and still the fire would not go out. It drank until the water killed it, and that was the end of the dragon.
King Krak rewarded Skuba generously and made sure the shoemaker never wanted for anything for the rest of his life.
The dragon’s hole is still there, below the castle on Wawel Hill, and to this day people call it the Dragon’s Den.
Retold by Talerie from Podania i legendy polskie, ruskie i litewskie (opens in a new window) Public domain Copy this text, adapt it, use it however you like. A link back to Talerie is appreciated but never required. CC0 1.0 (opens in a new window)