After last week’s cover reveal of my fantasy novel A Dagger in the Winds and the previous post on a beaked dragon called the Aspid, we’re continuing our series of dragons this Slavic Saturday with one from Polish folklore: the Wawel Dragon (known in Polish as Smok Wawelski).
(June 2021 Updated) Note: If you enjoy Slavic mythology, check out A Dagger in the Winds, the first book in my Slavic fantasy series called The Frostmarked Chronicles. You can also join my monthly newsletter for updates and free novellas (such as the prequel, The Rider in the Night) set in the world of the series.
The Dragon in the Hills
The story of Smok Wawelski is a familiar one to mythological dragons. Unlike many Slavic dragons, this one didn’t shape-shift or trick the inhabitants around Wawel Hill in Kraków. It did, though, have seven heads (at least according to its statue today) and rained fire to destroy the houses of villagers before eating their daughters.
In the original version of the story from Wincenty Kadłubek’s Polish Chronicle, King Krak (or Krakus), the mythological founder of Kraków, sent many warriors to face the dragon in its cave beneath Wawel Hill, but none succeeded in slaying the beast. So, Krak gave the dragon offerings of cattle each week to prevent further slaughter from occurring. He then tasked his sons, Lech and Krak II (or Krakus II), with finding a way to rid his lands of the dragon.
The sons, like the warriors before them, failed to defeat the Smok Wawelski by hand. So, they decided to outsmart him.
The brothers decided that the only way to kill the dragon was to place something within it. So, in their weekly offering of cattle (or a ram, depending on the tale), they stuffed one with sulfur. When Smok Wawelski ate the offering, it burned in his stomach. He rushed to the Vistula River (alongside Kraków) and drank to extinguish the flames within him, but water cannot suffocate a sulfur fire. The dragon exploded from the fires, and the brothers celebrated their great victory.
Greed overtook the brothers, though. They argued over who was to earn the reward for their victory, and Lech murdered Krak II, claiming that his brother was killed in the battle with the dragon. Later, when Lech was king, his murder was revealed, and he was exiled for his treachery. Kraków was then given its name in honor of his fallen brother (or his father, depending on the story again).
An alternate version of the story that became popular later claims that it was a a boy named Skuba who defeated Smok Wawelski. A cobbler’s apprentice, Skuba did not have the might of the warriors who had failed before him, but he was cunning. Like in the original tale, he filled an offering of lamb, ram, or cattle with sulfur, leading to the dragon’s death. As a reward, he was wed to King Krak’s daughter.
Wawel Hill Today
The founding of Kraków was far less fiery in actual history. That hasn’t stopped Smok Wawelski’s statue and Wawel Hill in Kraków from being some of the city’s most popular tourist destinations. The statue, which has seven heads, even breathes fire either every five minutes or by command via text. The cave beneath the hill can be toured and apparently served as both a tavern and brothel during medieval times. Nearby is the Wawel Royal Castle as well, built many centuries after the story was claimed to take place.
In The Frostmarked Chronicles
Though dragons will make appearances in The Frostmarked Chronicles (and multi-headed ones at that), I obviously won’t be including a city specific dragon in a fantasy world. That being said, elements of the story are fun and will likely appear in some type of story, whether it be a novella or the main series.
That’s all for this week’s Slavic Saturday. Be sure to keep a lookout for more posts next week, and if you haven’t seen the full series of posts, be sure to check them out.
*As always just a quick disclaimer. Slavic mythology is broad and not written in many if any primary sources, so there’s a variety of interpretations. The interpretations I’m using here are from the sources I’ve found to be reliable.