The pigeons of the Market Square
Knights turned into birds, waiting for a prince who never came back.
Prince Henryk Probus wanted to become king of Poland and needed the Pope's consent. He lacked the money for the journey to Rome. A witch promised to help: she turned his knights into pigeons, and as they pecked at the walls of St Mary's they turned the pebbles into gold. The prince set off with bags full of gold, but on the way he spent it all on feasts and entertainment, never reached Rome, and the knights remained pigeons.
That is why, the people of Kraków say, the pigeons on the Market Square are so tame and so impossible: they are knights waiting for their prince and have no intention of flying anywhere. Feeding them is forbidden today, which makes no impression on them whatsoever.