Did the Wawel Dragon really exist? Today in Krakow you can see his statue, visit the dragon's cave and take part in the annual Dragon Parade. It is believed that the origin of the legend was the discovery of very large bones in Wawel Castle. In the early Middle Ages, they did not know how to attribute them to any known animal species, and were thought to be the remains of a dragon. So what does the legend of the Wawel Dragon say? Once upon a time, King Krak, who ruled the Polish lands, had to fight off a huge dragon that took up residence in a cave under the castle and demanded that a cow be sacrificed to it. If his demands were not met, he kidnapped people. The king ordered that the dragon must be defeated, but none of his knights succeeded. Knights died, livestock died, people died, it seemed that there was no rescue for Krakow. Then suddenly a poor Shoemaker Dratewka appeared at King Krak's court and said he had an idea on how to defeat the dragon. The king agreed to the brave man's secret plan. Shoemaker killed a sheep and then stuffed it with sulfur, sewed it up and then carried it under the dragon's cave. Soon a dragon came out and, seeing the sheep, immediately ate it. The sulfur hidden in the animal made the dragon extremely thirsty. He threw himself into the Vistula River and drank the water. It seemed that he would drink the entire Vistula! And then suddenly there was a huge bang. The dragon drank so much water that it simply burst. The shoemaker became a hero of Krakow, and the king rewarded him richly.