The Legend of the Wawel Dragon

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The dragon just nodded his head when it heard the words. It wasn’t able to say a word as tears welled up in its eyes. It was happy that it finally, after all those months, got accepted by the community. As the time was passing, the life in Kraków was getting back to normal. People were rebuilding their damaged houses, traders were putting up their stalls at the market square and were trying to sell their products. Slowly and steadily more and more merchants from other countries were coming to Kraków to trade. And people were slowly getting used to seeing a dragon flying over the town and helping people with their duties like transporting heavy beams of wood, catching criminals and delivering them to the town prison or entertaining the youngsters by breathing fire. The townspeople were happy, content, cheerful and safe. Dima and the dragon were friends to the rest of their days and they both found their better halves but that’s another story for another time.&nbsp;

Erasmus+ Cultural Heritage: An inclusive path for participation and exchange in Europe

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So each day at dawn Dima visited the dragon. He sang some songs and brought some food and then they talked about various things: some important ones, some not so important ones and some silly ones. And as they were getting to know each other better and better, they were starting to like each other and after some time they became really good friends. And Dima came round to the dragon’s den not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

Until one day Dima started singing his touching song just in front of the dragon’s cave. While he was halfway his song, the dragon left its den and stood in front of it motionless. The brave youth’s heart skipped a beat but he went on with his song. When he finished singing the boy noticed tears in the dragon’s eyes. Surprised he asked the dragon: “Why are you crying?” “Because your songs are so pretty and I’m deeply touched by them.”- replied the dragon. “You liked them?” – asked the astonished Ukrainian. “Liked them? I loved them.” – answered the dragon. “But you are a dragon. You are fierce and terrifying. You shouldn’t like music at all.” “The fact that I’m large, have got a thick skin, sharp teeth and breathe fire doesn’t mean that I don’t have any feelings.” 

“My most gracious king,” said Dima, “I am really grateful for your prize but I am not going to accept it. I don’t know the princess, not to mention loving her. And I bet she doesn’t love me either. I guess she’d rather marry somebody of her own choice. I am really happy that I’ve found a true friend in this dragon and this is enough of a prize for me.”

Or at least the people thought it did... till the next morning.... At dawn the terrifying blue black and white creature appeared again over the market square. But this time it demanded food, lots of food. And it wasn’t to be just ordinary pork or beef or poultry – the dragon wanted to eat virgins as they had very delicate and juicy flesh. And with cinnamon and nutmeg it tasted delicious. The dragon threatened to burn the whole town if it didn’t get at least one virgin a day. To make the threat more plausible the dragon breathed fire towards the newly-built townhall with its weathervane in the shape of one of the most respected citizens – Tom.

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When people heard about the prize many young men decided to take the risk and try to kill the dragon. Knights and squires travelled to Kraków from all corners of Europe. There came young courageous men from Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Estonia, Romania, Russia and many other. They wore shiny armour, knew how to use various kinds of weapon like lances, swords, maces. They used many tricks and ruses but nobody was successful. All the risktakers lost their lives. At the beginning the Cracovians were optimistic but as time was passing and more and more men were dying trying to defeat the fire breathing beast the townspeople started to lose hope.

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And then he added in a shaky voice “We know we weren’t really kind to you. And you have every right to hate us but we realised that everything Dima had told us about you was true. You are nice and helpful and you also deserve our respect and friendship. We would like to apologise for our bad behaviour.”

Having said these words the king gathered all his bravery, came up to the dragon and stretched his arm to shake the dragon’s paw. When the crowd saw these two shaking hands they started cheering and throwing their caps in the air. Then the king addressed Dima: “And we are grateful to you, young man, as well. We haven’t forgotten about our promise. Now you can marry my daughter and when I leave this world forever you will be the next ruler of this country.”

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One day Dima came to visit his glittering blue-black and white friend at dawn. They were sitting on grass eating kringles and talking about life when suddenly they heard some very loud strange sounds. And then they could also hear people screaming. Curious they decided to check what was happening but since the way from the Wawel Hill to the town was rather long the dragon told Dima to sit on its back and they flew up. When they were high up in the air they couldn’t believe their eyes – a horde of Tatars were invading the town. They were shooting arrows at whatever or whoever was moving. They plundered the most prestigious building and when they looted all valuables they set fire to those places.

At that time life in Kraków seemed to be slowly coming back to normality. People started building another townhall as the mayor needed a place to work, some traders gradually started to appear at the market square to sell their goods. But still women were scared to let their children play outside and foreigners fearing for their lives avoided coming to this southern town which was once so famous and so bustling. But then another calamity befell the town...

Then, one day, a dark-skinned and fair-haired youth arrived in town. The boy was called Dima and was tall and well built and in his early twenties. He looked cheerful and happy and on arrival in Kraków he was singing an energetic Ukrainian song. People were surprised to see this carefree boy from Ukraine in their town which seemed to be forgotten by visitors and travellers. The citizens talked to the newcomer and told him about the problem they were experiencing and the boy wanted to help the good people of Kraków.

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So the next day, Dima came to the bank of the river nearby the dragon’s den. He was holding a sandwich with sprats. After a while he started singing a beautiful sad and schmaltzy Ukrainian dumky. He had a great voice and when people heard him singing everybody was touched and the eyes of many people filled with tears. The dragon heard the boy singing, too. The beast was astonished that the young singer was not afraid of it and was still standing in front of the cave when the dragon stuck its head out of its home. When the boy stopped singing he left the sandwich with the sprat near the cave and went back to town. When Dima was gone, the dragon left the cave and slowly approached the sprat sandwich as it smelt mouthwatering. The dragon smelt the sandwich suspiciously and took a tiny bite. It tasted really good. So he took another bite and he carried on eating until the whole sandwich vanished in his stomach.

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When the young Ukrainian reached the town, he decided to talk to town councillors who were forced to work in one of many inns as their working place – the magnificient townhall had been destroyed by the beast. When the mayor and other important people heard that the dragon was harmless they refused to believe it. And even though Dima suggested that they all could meet it and talk to it to see how sensitive it is, they declined this proposal. But since they were pretty content that the dragon didn’t want more virgins who they obviously lacked they decided to pay Dima to go to the dragon’s cave every day and to give the beast some world-famous dishes. Dima accepted the job offer, partially because he felt sorry for the lonely dragon and partially because he also needed the money.&nbsp;

After two hours the fight was over. The invaders were either dead or guarded in the town dungeons and the few who managed to escape were being followed by Cracovian guards.

The dragon and Dima returned to the cave and went to sleep as they were exhausted. The next morning the crowd gathered in front of the dragon’s den woke Dima and his four-legged friend. At the very front of this huge group of people was the king himself, the mayor of Kraków and most respected town councilors. The king having seen that the dragon was awake said in a loud voice: “Sorry for disturbing your sleep we didn’t mean it but we’ve come here to thank you for you assistance yesterday. If it hadn’t been for you we wouldn’t be standing here right now. You are truly a good creature.”

The situation continued for many days. Each day the dragon devoured one youthful virgin. Miserable fathers didn’t want to give their daughters to the dragon. The atmosphere in the town became sombre. The rumours about the dragon spread across Europe and the merchants stopped coming to town as nobody felt safe there. Not only were townspeople sad and devasted they were also getting poorer and poorer. The king seeing the misery of his people decided to act. He announced that any knight who would kill the dangerous creature occupying the limestone cave would become the king of Kraków after Krak’s death and could marry his daughter – Princess Wanda.

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The fire was so powerful that the building caught fire immediately and petrified people promised to do whatever the dragon wished for and ran to the well situated in one of the corners of the market to put out the fire. The dragon soon vanished and the people were trying to save the building but they didn’t succeed in doing so. The townhall burned to the ground but at least they saved other buildings.&nbsp;

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“Oh, that means you are good and kind deep in your heart, Dragon. So why did you kill all those knights?” “Because they came here with their arches, spears and they wanted to slay me.” “I see.” – said Dima. “It was self-defence, then. But why did you demand these innocent maids for breakfast? I can see you enjoyed the food I brought” “Well, you know, I’d never thought of eating anything else. And I’d never thought that trying new dishes would be so enjoyable.” “Here, try this.” – said Dima handing the dragon the Cracovian pretzel. The dragon smelt it and ate it. “Good, although a bit salty.”- said the dragon. “Glad you liked it” – said Dima. And then they could hear St. Mary’s Trumpet Call. “Oh no, it’s noon already. I need to go.” – said Dima. “But will you come tomorrow?” - asked the dragon. “Of course, I will.”- promised the cheerful youth.&nbsp;

Once upon a time there was a beautiful town in the south of Poland. Its name was Kraków and it was ruled by a handsome king Krak. People living there led a peaceful and happy life as the King was wise and just. The town attracted many traders and merchants from all around the world who came to Kraków to sell silk, exotic spices, amber, armour, sabres, marvellous jewellery and to buy salt from world famous Wieliczka mine, bear pelts, linen oil and bitter beer. The town grew bigger and bigger and the Cracovians were becoming richer and richer. The guilds could afford to build more beautiful houses, higher churches and more spacious inns serving more and more cheffy dishes. Everybody was happy and content with their lives.

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The following day Dima appeared on the bank of the Vistula again. This time he brought chocolate covered gingerbread the smell of which reached the dragon’s nostrils. He sang another soppy song. Hearing the song the dragon went out of the cave and stood there listening. This time after finishing singing the boy came closer to the dragon, left the gingerbread and went back to the town. When the dragon was left alone, it came closer to the food and bit by bit it ate this heart-shaped Polish delicacy. The situation continued for some time. Each day the dark-skinned Ukrainian brought some food like pierogis, kama, beer, borsch, bigos to name just a few. And each time the boy stood closer to the dragon’s den. And each time when the boy got out of the dragon’s sight the beast quickly approached the left food and gobbled it. The dragon seemed to have forgotten about virgins with cinnamon and nutmeg.&nbsp;

So the next morning the mayor of Kraków came to the bank of the Vistula River close to the Wawel Castle which was situated on Wawel Hill. And the dragon had decided to settle down in one of many caves which could be found in this hill. The mayor didn’t come alone though. He came with a young maid who had volunteered to save the town. The mayor felt pity for the poor young girl and admired her courage and didn’t really want to give the girl to the dragon but what could he do? He had no choice.

Dima was terrified at what was happening but he saw the chance for the dragon and the Cracovians. He asked the dragon: “Do you think we could help them?” “But why should we help them? They weren’t nice to me. They wanted to kill me. This attack serves them right! They should know what it feels like when somebody wants to get you killed.” – answered the dragon. “You are right – they weren’t really friendly towards you. But they were also slightly afraid of you. But maybe right now you could use this opportunity and show them what you are really like – that you are sensitive and caring and likeable.” “Ok, you’ve convinced me. I’ll try to help them and maybe they will become my friends.”

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THE LEGEND OF THE WAWEL DRAGON written and illustrated by students of I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. prof. Zbigniewa Religi in Zabrze, Poland and Virtsu Kool in Virstu, Estonia

Until one sunny Sunday..... At noon the sky became dark suddenly. Intrigued people left their homes in the middle of their dinner to see what was happening. And then they saw it: a huge dragon was flying above their town and it was obliterating the sky. It was enormous. It was blue, black and white and its hide was glittering when the sun rays touched it. It had an extremely long tail which had a Dannebrog at the end. From time to time it breathed fire but fortunately so far nothing had been damaged. The dragon made a few circles in the air above a large rectangular market square with the tallest church in the whole Europe – the Oleviste Church and then it disappeared as unexpectedly as it showed up above the town. The crowd gathered in the streets sighed with relief. Neighbours stood outside for a couple of more minutes to talk about what they had just seen wondering if it hadn’t been just a bad dream. And then everybody went back home to finish their dinner which had already gone cold. Townspeople’s life came back to normal.&nbsp;

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“Very well then,” said the king, “please, accept at least a house overlooking the tallest church in Europe and a post at the town council as the people of this once famous and often visited town need your wise advice.” And this prize Dima was more than willing to accept but he asked “What award will you give to the dragon? It was him who saved the town after all.”

“Right, we were thinking that maybe you would like to stay in our town, dear Dragon, and we would bring you lots of delicious home made dishes every day. And you could still occupy this cave and come to our town market and play with the children. What say you?”

So they flew towards the town. And once they got there the people panicked when they saw a huge shadow on the ground. The Cracovians started yelling even louder and cursed their fate but the Tatars gawped at the enormous creature in disbelief. It turned out that the rumours they had heard were true – the dragon really existed! It wasn’t just a fairy tale for misbehaving children. After the first shock however, they tried to beat the dragon with their arrows and arches but these attempts were ineffective. The arrows merely touched the dragon’s skin without doing any harm but only irritating the flying beast as the dragon felt as if the wasps were stinging it. And the dragon hated the wasps. So annoyed and cross, the dragon breathed fire towards the Tatars riders wearing pointed hats. The horrified subjects of the khan started to flee in all possible directions leaving the looted goods behind. But the dragon didn’t cease to help the citizens, the tree-coloured beast was chasing the invaders and from time to time it caught some Tatar warriors in its claws and transported them to a prison. Those who were still trying to fight the dragon in the air were dropped from high in the air and lost their lives smashing on the ground.

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