Retold from: Polish legends

Polish legends are old stories about cities, rivers and heroes that children and adults in Poland all know.

The best known is the legend of the Wawel Dragon, Kraków’s most famous tale. Its oldest version is in the Latin chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek, from around 1200. The story of the clever shoemaker Skuba, who gave the dragon a hide stuffed with sulphur, was first written down by Marcin Bielski in his “Kronika polska”, which his son Joachim Bielski published in Kraków in 1597.

The Dragon’s Den (Smocza Jama) under Wawel hill, on the bank of the Vistula, can still be visited, and a metal dragon beside it breathes fire.

Here you can read “The Wawel Dragon”: how the knights fled from the monster, and a humble shoemaker, Skuba, beat it with his wits.