The Wawel Dragon
A sheep, sulphur and a cobbler who was cleverer than the knights.
In the days of Prince Krak a dragon settled in a cave beneath Wawel Hill. It devoured cattle, and when the cattle ran out it demanded maidens. Knights died one after another. Then a cobbler, Skuba, came forward: he stuffed a sheepskin with sulphur and tar and left it outside the cave. The dragon swallowed the sheep, its belly burned, it ran to the Vistula and drank, and drank, and drank, until it burst.
The legend was written down in the twelfth century by Wincenty Kadłubek, though in his version the dragon was defeated by Krak's sons. The cobbler came later, because folk heroes always beat princes. Today a dragon sculpture below Wawel breathes real fire every few minutes, and the Dragon's Den is 270 metres long and can be visited from spring to autumn.