The Wawel Dragon ( pl, Smok Wawelski), also known as the Dragon of Wawel Hill, is a famous
dragon in Polish legend.
According to the earliest account (13th century), a dragon ( gr, holophagus, "one who swallows whole") plagued the capital city of
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
established by legendary
King Krak (or Krakus, Gracchus, etc.). The man-eating monster was being appeased with a weekly ration of cattle, until finally defeated by the king's sons using decoy cows stuffed with
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
. But the younger prince ("
Krak the younger" or "Krak junior") murdered his elder brother to take sole credit, and was banished afterwards. Consequently
Princess Wanda
Princess Wanda (reputedly lived in 8th century Poland) was the daughter of Krakus, legendary founder of Kraków. Upon her father's death, she became queen of the Poles, but committed suicide to avoid an unwanted marriage to a German.
Wanda legen ...
had to succeed the kingdom. Later in a 15th-century chronicle, the prince-names were swapped, with the elder as "Krak junior" and the younger as
Lech
Lech may refer to:
People
* Lech (name), a name of Polish origin
* Lech, the legendary founder of Poland
* Lech (Bohemian prince)
Products and organizations
* Lech (beer), Polish beer produced by Kompania Piwowarska, in Poznań
* Lech Poznań, ...
. It also credited the king himself with masterminding the carcasses full of sulfur and other reagents. A yet later chronicler (
Marcin Bielski
Marcin Bielski (or ''Wolski''; 1495 – 18 December 1575) was a Polish soldier, historian, chronicler, renaissance satirical poet, writer and translator. His son, , royal secretary to king Sigismund III Vasa, was also a historian and poet. He wa ...
, 1597) credited the stratagem to a cobbler named Skub (Skuba), adding that the "Dragon's Cave" ( pl,
Smocza Jama) lay beneath
Wawel Castle
The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...
(on Wawel Hill on the bank of the
Vistula River
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
).
Literary history
The oldest known telling of the story comes from the 13th-century work attributed to Bishop of Kraków and historian of Poland,
Wincenty Kadłubek
Wincenty Kadłubek ( 1150 – 8 March 1223) was a Polish Catholic prelate and professed Cistercian who served as the Bishop of Kraków from 1208 until his resignation in 1218. His episcopal mission was to reform the diocesan priests to ensure ...
.
Polish Chronicle (13 c.)
According to Wincenty Kadłubek's ''
Polish Chronicle'', a dragon appeared during the reign of
King Krak ( la, Grakchus, italic=no,
'
).
St. Wincenty's original Latin text actually refers to the dragon as ''holophagus''
(
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
gloss: ; "one who swallows whole"), which was a
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
he had coined. In Polish translation of the work, the monster is rendered as the "greedily swallowing dragon" ( pl, ).
It was a "terrible and cruel beast" dwelling "in the depths
indings/curvesof a certain rock (')"
[: ][: "terrible and cruel beast" dwelling "in the depths of a certain rock"] or emended to "a certain cave ()"
[ ''Chronica principum Poloniae'', p. 430, n. 5: "W. Chr. Pol.'': ''Erat enim in cuiusdam spelunce.."] according to Wincenty.
The dragon required weekly cattle, or else humans would have been devoured instead. In the hope of killing the dragon, Krak called upon his two sons. They could not, however, defeat the creature by hand, so they came up with a trick. They fed him a
cattle skin stuffed with smoldering sulfur, causing his fiery death.
After the success, the younger prince (referred to as the "junior Graccus"; la, iunior Graccus var. , i.e.
Krak II; pl, młodsy Grakus) kills his elder brother blaming the dragon for the death. But his crime was soon revealed, and he got expelled from the country. Afterwards
Princess Wanda
Princess Wanda (reputedly lived in 8th century Poland) was the daughter of Krakus, legendary founder of Kraków. Upon her father's death, she became queen of the Poles, but committed suicide to avoid an unwanted marriage to a German.
Wanda legen ...
had to accede the kingship.
Derivative chronicles
Among later chronicles derived from Wincenty Kadłubek's work, ''
Chronicle of Greater Poland
The ''Wielkopolska Chronicle'' (or ''Chronicle of Greater Poland'', pl, Kronika wielkopolska) is an anonymous medieval chronicle describing supposed history of Poland from legendary times up to the year 1273. It was written in Latin at the end ...
'' (<1296) fails to make mention of the dragon at all, while the (or ''Mierzwa Chronicle''; ''Kronika Dzierzwy''/''Kronika Mierzwy'', 14th century) followed closely after Wincenty. Both these chronicles maintain that Krak, Jr. is the younger prince, and keep the elder brother nameless.
Jan Długosz
Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...
's 15th-century chronicle,
however, swapped the roles of the princes, claiming that the younger son named
Lech
Lech may refer to:
People
* Lech (name), a name of Polish origin
* Lech, the legendary founder of Poland
* Lech (Bohemian prince)
Products and organizations
* Lech (beer), Polish beer produced by Kompania Piwowarska, in Poznań
* Lech Poznań, ...
was the killer, while the elder son named Krak, Jr. became the victim. The idea for the scheme to slay the dragon (''olophagus'') is credited to King Krak himself, not his sons, because the king fears a mass exodus from the city may take place, and he orders to have the carcass stuffed with flammable substances, namely sulfur,
tinder
Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
( pl, próchno; la, cauma), wax, pitch, and tar and set them on fire.
The dragon ate the burning meal and died breathing fire just before death. Długosz also adds the detail that the dragon lived in a cave of Mount Wawel upon which King Krak had built his castle. In any case, the fratricide is banished, so their sister
Princess Wanda
Princess Wanda (reputedly lived in 8th century Poland) was the daughter of Krakus, legendary founder of Kraków. Upon her father's death, she became queen of the Poles, but committed suicide to avoid an unwanted marriage to a German.
Wanda legen ...
must accede to the throne.
Shoemaker version
![Kraków - Wawel - Smocza Jama - inside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Krak%C3%B3w_-_Wawel_-_Smocza_Jama_-_inside.jpg)
Later,
Marcin Bielski
Marcin Bielski (or ''Wolski''; 1495 – 18 December 1575) was a Polish soldier, historian, chronicler, renaissance satirical poet, writer and translator. His son, , royal secretary to king Sigismund III Vasa, was also a historian and poet. He wa ...
's ''Kronika Polska'' (
1597) gave credit to or Skuba the Cobbler () for designing the plan to defeat the dragon.
The story still takes place in Kraków during the reign of
King Krak, the city's legendary founder, who is here called "Krok". The dragon required a diet of three calves (''cielęta'') or rams (''barany''), something in threes, and would snatch people to sate his hunger. On Skub's advice, King Krok had a calf's skin filled with sulfur, used as bait to the dragon. The dragon was unable to swallow this, and drank water until it died. Afterwards, the shoemaker was rewarded handsomely.. King executed the plan, and Skub the Cobbler was rewarded (underlined portion). Bielski adds, "One can still see his cave under the castle. It is called the Dragon's Cave (''
Smocza Jama'')"., end of quote, . Photo of the cave appears on Fig. 6.
Popular retellings
The most popular, fairytale version of the Wawel Dragon tale takes place in Kraków during the reign of
King Krakus, the city's legendary founder. Each day the evil dragon would beat a path of destruction across the countryside, killing the civilians, pillaging their homes, and devouring their livestock. In many versions of the story, the dragon especially enjoyed eating young maidens.
Great warriors from near and far fought for the prize and failed.
[ A ]cobbler
Cobbler(s) may refer to:
*A person who Shoemaking, repairs, and sometimes makes, shoes
Places
* The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland
* Mount Cobbler, Australia
Art, entertainment and media
* The Cobbler (1923 ...
's apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
(named Skuba[) accepted the challenge. He stuffed a lamb][ with ]sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
and set it outside the dragon's cave. The dragon ate it and became so thirsty, it turned to the Vistula River[ and drank until it burst. The cobbler married the King's daughter as promised, and founded the city of Kraków.]
Dratewka
It has also been claimed that the name of the shoemaker is Dratewka in children's literature or storytelling about the Krak legend. However, "Shoemaker Dratewka" ( pl, Szewczyk Dratewka) or the "Twine Shoemaker" is the name of the ''smok''-slaying protagonist in Maria Kownacka's play ''O straszliwym smoku i dzielnym szewczyku, prześlicznej królewnie i królu Gwoździku'' ("The terrible Dragon, the brave Shoemaker, the beautiful Princess and King Gwoździk", 1935). The hero of the same name () also appears in fairy tales by .
Origin theories
;Parallels
Legends of the Wawel dragon have similarities with the biblical story about Daniel and the Babylonian dragon, and in fact, it was stated in the tract from the Dzierzwa/Mierzwa Chronicle that "Krak ss sons killed the local dragon, like Daniel killed the dragon of Babylon".
The tale of Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
's dragon-slaying using sulfur in the Romances on King Alexander (which episode only survived in the Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
version, 7th century), bear an even closer resemblance.
;Ancient myth
The legend of the Kraków dragon may well have ancient, pre-Christian origins. An allusion to the practice of Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...
as part of an older, unknown myth has been suggested by historian . Or perhaps an Indo-European myth of good vs. evil may underlie the legend. The Kraków Dragon may well be interpreted as a symbol of evil has been commented by others
;Historical bases
There might also be some echoes of historical events. According to some historians, the dragon is a symbol of the presence of the Avars on Wawel Hill in the second half of the sixth century, and the victims devoured by the beast symbolize the tribute pulled by them. The dragon may have represented the historical Bolesław II who was responsible for the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów
Stanislaus of Szczepanów ( pl, Stanisław ze Szczepanowa; 26 July 1030 – 11 April 1079) was Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by the Polish king Bolesław II the Generous. Stanislaus is venerated in the Roman Ca ...
, bishop of Kraków, according to historian .
These ideas combined (the mythos may have been overlaid with a historical allegory) has also been described. The legend may be based on an Indo-European ur-myth about a thunder deity vanquishing a great serpent may have been at the base, and the serpent myth was possibly conflated with the cult of St. Stanislaus.
Monuments
The Wawel dragon's supposed Dragon's Cave ('' Smocza Jama'') below Wawel Castle
The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...
still exists, on the property on the edge of the Vistula River
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
, and can be visited. This particular cave was purportedly first described c. 1190, i.e., in the first account of the legend by Wincenty, though the chronicler merely stated that the beast resided in a "winding of a rock ()", i.e. " a cave ()".
A metal sculpture of the Wawel Dragon, designed in 1969 by Bronisław Chromy
Bronisław Chromy (June 3, 1925 – October 4, 2017) was a Polish sculptor, medallist, painter, and draughtsman, and a professor at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow.
Chromy was a Member of the Polish Academy of ...
, was placed in front of the Dragon's Cave (Dragon's Den) in 1972. The dragon has seven heads, but frequently people think that it has one head and six forelegs. To the amusement of onlookers, it noisily breathes fire every few minutes, thanks to a natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
nozzle installed in the sculpture's mouth.
The Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral ( pl, Katedra Wawelska), formally titled the Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus, is a Roman Catholic cathedral situated on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. Nearly 1000 years old, it is part of the ...
features a plaque commemorating the dragon's defeat by Krakus
Krakus, Krak or Grakch was a legendary Polish prince, king and founder of Kraków, the ruler of the Lechitic tribe of Vistulans. Krakus is also credited with building Wawel Castle and slaying the Wawel Dragon by feeding it a dead sheep full ...
, a Polish prince who, according to the plaque, founded the city and built his palace over the slain dragon's cave.
In front of the entrance to the cathedral, there are bones of whales or Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
creatures hanging on a chain, which were found and carried to the cathedral in medieval times as the remains of a dragon. It is believed that the world will come to its end when the bones will fall on the ground.
The street leading along the banks of the river leading towards the castle is ''ulica Smocza'', which translates as "Dragon Street".
Dragon in culture
* Wawel Dragons (Gold, Silver, Bronze Grand Prix Dragons and Dragon of Dragons Special Prize) are awards, usually presented at Kraków Film Festival
The Kraków Film Festival ( pl, Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy) is one of Europe's oldest events dedicated to documentary, animation and other short film forms.
It has been organised every year since 1961. The Artistic President of the festival is ...
in Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
* The Dragon (as "The Beast of Kraków") appeared in the eighth issue of a comic book series Nextwave
''Nextwave'' is a humorous comic book series by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen, published by Marvel Comics between 2006 and 2007. ''Nextwave'' consistently features extreme violence and comedy, and simultaneously satirizes and celebrates Marve ...
from Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
(written by Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...
and drawn by Stuart Immonen).
* The Dragon appears in a series of shorts produced and published by Polish company Allegro
Allegro may refer to:
Common meanings
* Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright
* Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement
Artistic works
* L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton
* ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...
. The shorts re-visit classic Polish legends and folk tales in modernised form: in the first short, titled ''Smok'', the dragon is presented as a flying machine used by a mysterious outlaw to capture Kraków girls.
* Wawel Dragon is also one of main characters in Stanisław Pagaczewski's series of books about a scientist Baltazar Gąbka, as well as short animations based on them.
* An archosaur discovered in Lisowice in 2011 was named ''Smok wawelski
''Smok'' (meaning "dragon" in Polish) is an extinct genus of large carnivorous archosaur. It lived during the latest Triassic period (latest Norian to early Rhaetian stage, between 205–200 Ma). Its remains have been found in Lisowice, ...
'' after the dragon.
* The Dragon was the mascot of popular Polish radio station RMF FM
RMF FM (abriviation to ''Radio Muzyka Fakty FM'', translation: ''Radio Music Facts FM''; previously: ''Radio Małopolska Fun FM''; translation: ''Radio Lesser Poland Fun FM'') is the first commercial radio station in Poland, currently broadcas ...
, and featured in its logo between its launch in 1990 and 2010. It was dubbed "Matilda", in honor of the daughter of one of the station's first journalists.
See also
* List of dragons in mythology and folklore
This is a list of dragons in mythology and folklore.
African dragons
American dragons
European dragons
This is a list of European dragons.
Northeast Asian dragons
Oceanian dragons
South Asian dragons
Southeast Asian ...
* al-Mi'raj
* Esfandiyār
Esfandiyār or Espandiyār ( ae, Spəntōδāta-; pal, Spandadāt; ) is a legendary Iranian hero and one of the characters of Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh''. He was the son and the crown prince of the Kayanian King Goshtasp and Queen Katāyoun. He ...
(Isfandiyar)
Explanatory notes
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
digital copy
@ Library of U. Gdańsk
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Traditional Polish Dragon Legend Retold in Short Sci-Fi Movie
{{Kraków
European dragons
Wawel
Polish legends
Culture in Kraków
Polish folklore
Articles containing video clips