Wawel Castle · The Dragon at the Foot of the Hill

Beneath Wawel Hill in Kraków there is a cave where a dragon is said to have lived, eating cattle and also people. The king offered a reward to anyone who killed it, and a shoemaker’s apprentice tricked it with a sheep stuffed with sulphur until it drank the Vistula dry and burst.

In another version the dragon did not die but was only driven into the cave. A metal dragon that breathes fire now stands at the entrance, and really does breathe it every few minutes.

On Wawel Hill the kings of Poland were crowned and buried. Locals say the dragon is a story and the hill is real.

Folklore / Kraków · Poland / Time immemorial