IN THE WORLD OF LEGENDS
There are 10 legends of Cracow.I want to intruduce some of them.
This the first one about the Cracow’s Dragon.The Legend of the Dragon of WAWEL.
The 1 st Legend.
Some centuries ago,the most horrible fire-belching dragon lived in a cave at the foot of the Wawel’s Hill, a monster that ravaged the nearby meadows by devouring grazing cattle. The bravest knights tried to overcome it but in vain. Before they could draw their swords, the fire from the beast’s mouth killed them,
The king, who reigned at that time,sent out his heralds to announce that whosoever could kill the dragon would marry his daughter as a reward and sit on his throne after his death. Contenders encouraged by such a handsome offer came, but they were killed too .The king despaired, while the king’s daughter wrung her hands not expecting ever to be married. The dragon-ravaged the country and it became poorer and poorer.
Then a shoemaker named Skuba decided to conquer the beast by a unique strategy. After stuffing a fat ram with sulphur, he placed the tasty tidbit at the cave’s entrance. The dragon, being greedy as well as stupid, swallowed the treacherous gift in one mouthful. Its throat started burning so it ran to the nearby The Vistula river, gulping down so much water that it burst with a great bang, thus the town and the surrounding countryside was freed of its terror. Another legend tells that this shoemaker was named Krak too.
The shoemaker married the king’s daughter, and after the monarch’s death, ascended to the throne. The town, he rescued of the dragon, took its name from this shoemaker’s name and it bears to this day with great honour – the old capital of Poland, Krakow.
Other legend tells that it was the Great Cracovian’s joy, and the shoemaker cut out many pairs of shoes from the dead dragon’s skin. How the legend advoctae, to today it can buy them in Sukiennice(Cloth Hall). – the dragon became the icon of Cracow – today the dragon would not survive because it fed only with virgins. About conquesting the dragon it reminds the sculpture standing at the foot of Vavel designed by Limping Bronisław,
By me
