Wawel Castle Dragon

There lived a dragon, at the foot of Wawel hill. He sat day and night in front of Krakow
village. The dragon left villagers in shock and even the king on his knees. Guards were afraid to
hold their post and frequently abandoned their duty. Even travellers were forced to go all the
way around the hill in order to visit the city of Krakow. Fathers and mothers alerted their children
to keep far away from the dragon, as it was an extremely powerful pest prepared to prey on
families and defeat any foe in its path. Being an infamous creature, the hairs on backs of necks
raised at the mention of the dragon.

The beast made himself more and more at home as the days passed. He feasted on
farmers livestock and their crops. He burned down homes with his breath, hotter than magma.
He even took children who played too far off into the fields. No man wanted to fight against the
dragon of Wawel. This made the king afraid of his castle being destroyed, and being taken by
the dragon. So he decided to call upon every knight in all the lands of Europe to come and
defeat the dragon. He even sent his best hussars to defeat the dragon. King Krakow offered any
man who was able to defeat the dragon to have his golden crown and golden sceptre, and all
the riches that followed. He even offered his daughter's hand in marriage to the dragon slayer.

Men from Germany, Ukraine, France, Austria, and all around Europe had heard King
Krak’s call, and the offers he made. Knights gathered by Wawel hill and began to take their
swings at defeating the dragon. However, even the finest arrows from Hungary and the finest
blades forged from Austrian bismuth were not able to pierce the dragons unbreakable scaly
skin. After hundreds, and even thousands of men died trying to defeat the dragon, the knights
started losing hope. Until the king finally decided that his eldest son must go and defeat the
dragon himself. He was given the finest horse and the kings sword, one of the best swords ever
forged, known to man, and was sent off to defeat the dragon.

At first light, the people of Krakow gathered around the cave to Wawel hill, where the
Kings son Krzywousty waited on his horse, for the dragon to leave his cave. The dragon slowly
emerged from the darkness of the cave, his claws glinting in the light of the sun and his head
shrouded in darkness. The size of the horrid beast instantly brought fear to the crowd,
measuring at least 35 feet tall, towering over cowering spectators. Only a single wing, long and
slimy appeared from the side of the cave, destroying the stone that held the cave shut, as even
the cave was not enough of an attempt to keep the dragon suppressed. His other wing left a
deep marking into the side of the cave, engraving the stone, as if it were a simple feat. No man
or woman knew what to do, frozen in place by fear.

Except the King’s son, even at the sight of such a beast, Krzywousty kept resilient and
held his ground. His horse stood still and his sword held straight. He trotted his horse back and
forth, trying to find some sort of opening onto the dragon. But the dragon stood in guard,
appearing to be taunting the tiny human. Krzywousty noticed the taunting and rage took over his
body, he screamed to the top of his lungs, being heard even in Warsaw, and charged directly
towards the body of the dragon. He quickly reacted to a swipe by the dragon, stumbling to a
stop, but sliced towards the body of the dragon. His face instantly turned to fear. The crowd
made an echo of gasps. The kings sword had broken in a single swing on the dragons
immensely powerful scaly skin. Krzywousty tipped off of his steed and fell onto the ground,
directly in front of the dragons claws. The dragon swooped its enormous head down and ate
Krzywousty whole.

The King had heard his son was murdered by the dragon, and his blade had been
shattered, along with his hope of getting his city back. Broken and mourning, the king sat on his
throne for weeks, hopeless and shut away. Until a day, where a simple shoemaker strolled up to
the gates of the castle and requested to see his majesty. The King had no choice but to let the
man in, and he had no other place to go. The shoemaker explained that he needed lambskin,
some sulphur, and mustard seed. The King agreed to supply the shoemaker with the
ingredients he needed, and his servants tended to the shoemaker.

The shoemaker worked long mornings, and all night on his creation. Villagers had
peered through his window to see his work, and smiths had formulated plans on what he would
do. He stuffed the lambskin with sulfur, pitch, and mustard seed. He then skillfully sewed the
lambskin together. Making sure to design what appeared to be a lamb, he had finished his
creation. He laid his work down in his room and had went to sleep, ready to put his plan into
action the next day.

Directly at sunrise, the time that the dragon was known to roam, the shoemaker had set
out to put his plan into action. He arrived to a large open field that the dragon normally visited,
and placed his fake lamb onto the ground. He then surrounded the lamb with raw meat and
torted that his trap was set. The shoemaker then hid in nearby bushes, alongside a few villagers
that wanted to see what the shoemaker was up to.

The dragon awoke at sunrise, as usual, and wandered out of the cave he had claimed.
The horrific beast decided that he is extremely hungry this morning, and right away went to his
favorite hunting spot. As he had arrived at his favorite hunting spot, he had noticed an already
dead lamb, with delicious meat that layered it. This was easy pickings for the dragon, and he
delightedly went towards the lamb. Upon reaching the lamb, he swallowed the meat around the
lamb and the dead lamb whole, without even chewing. Instantly, the dragon felt something
wasn’t right, his throat felt dry, and he was incredibly parched. The sensation wouldn’t go away,
and he needed to drink something right that instant. He went to the nearest river, coincidently
right next to the lamb he had just eaten, the Wistula river, and started to take a long drink. He
drank and drank the water, and his stomach started expanding. The parched sensation wouldn’t
go away, so kept drinking and drinking the entire river up until his belly expanded and
expanded.All until a loud “BANG” erupted. The dragon’s body bursted into pieces and it was
finally done, the dragon was slain.
 The shoemaker’s plan had gone right step by step, and everybody went silent. At the
same moment the villagers and the shoemaker began cheering, and lifted the shoemaker up for
defeating the dragon of Wawel. They returned to the village and told the king the amazing news.
He rejoiced and thanked the shoemaker for avenging his son. He granted the shoemaker with
his sceptre, his crown, and many more riches. The dragon of Wawel was dead, and the Wistula
river had been gulped up.

Potawatomi Tribe Tale

In the first day, there was nothing that could be seen beside water. There was no land,
or people that could be seen. This way until there was a man who ventured on a canoe, not
knowing how he got there, or what he was supposed to do. Out of the sea jumped a muskrat
onto the canoe and questioned the man, “Hello Grandfather, why are you crying?” The man
replied, “I have been searching far and wide for land to go onto, I am sick of the sea.” The
muskrat hastily replied, “But there is earth under all this water!” The man sat in disbelief, how
could something he’d been searching for, for so long be right under him. The muskrat knew how
to prove that there was land under him, it dove down and came up again with both paws full of
mud. The man shook his head in disagreeance, so the muskrat dove again and this time came
up with a ball of earth in his mouth. However the man was still not convinced, that was not
enough land to live on.

The man then asked the muskrat if he was by himself, which the muskrat answered no.
It then yelled out to all the animals under the water and they swam up to the canoe. Some
danced and laughed at meeting a man. A white muskrat said to the man, “I hear that you want
to see us.” The man answered “Yes, I want you to bring me some earth so I can make the
world. I will make it a good world where we can all live.” The animals agreed and they all began
to search for pieces of land. Every animal brought a piece of earth to the man, which they called
grandfather. Grandfather molded all of the mud that the animals brought into a platform which
reached the bottom of the sea. It peaked out of the water and was being put into a surface. He
kept adding on mud, day and night until it was a solid piece of land that he would be able to
stand on. Grandfather then took out a tree seed, and planted it. He added in crops onto the land
and animals came to live on it.

As grandfather added more and more onto the land, he noticed that the mud hardened
and became dry. He told the animals to keep bringing him mud so he could refresh the land. He
kept planting trees and grass until it was green land. The muskrats began to dig rivers into the
mud in order to create irrigation for his crops. The man then decided he needed shelter, so he
built a wigwam. He then began adding more land onto his island and expanded it.
 One day Grandfather was exploring his island up north and found people. The man said
“I am Wi’saka.” The potawatomi replied, well we have heard of you, you must have come from
above as we did.” Wi’saka replied no, I have always been here, I formed the earth you are
standing on along with the animals of the sea. One potawatomi said to Wi’saka, “you must be
the great spirit.” He replied, “yes, I was the first here and created this land, who knows more
than me about the land?”

He taught the potawatomi how to make clay pots and how to cook their food. He showed
them around the island and to where he planted trees. He showed them how to create
household utensils like baskets. He also showed them how to create wigwams. He told them
that there would be animals walking amongst them in a day. The next day deer, buffalo, and
other animals appeared on the island. This was the start of the world for the potawatomi.

The tribe hunted for animals, and planted more trees and crops. As they expanded their
village they realized there was not enough people for the village. So they began to do rituals to
the great spirit, calling for more children. The next day every woman in the tribe was pregnant
with a child. When they were born, they were cared for and clothes were made for them.

One child, Akari grew up learning very quickly, he spoke more than other children, and
played better at games. His father was the tribe leader, the one who met the great spirit himself.
Akari was however rebellious, he did not want to listen to his parents and followed what he
wanted to do. He got into trouble with tribe members by playing jokes on them and stealing their
things. However, through time of being scolded and seeing the pain he brought upon others he
realized how much of a nuisance he was being. He didn’t understand the culture of his people
and would try to justify his thoughts.

Telling my mother Patawa that I was scared wasn’t something that I could do. By the age
of 14 I needed to know how to do anything an adult has to do. Showing weakness made me
look like a child, except, that is what I was. I was pushed into a life that every male has to live in
my village. By the age of 13 you are a man and by the age of 18 you must establish a family.
People see this as a normal custom and it is expected of men. Frequently, children who didn’t
want to grow up so quickly would be frowned upon by family members and tribe members as
they are not contributing to their people. Some would be cast away from the village and sent on
their own. Our people are unforgiving, however resourceful and close. We follow our gods
closely and help each other when there is help needed. We are also close to the animals, and
they are what allow us to live on this land.

Germanic Tale
 Around this time of year there is snow, yet for some reason the skies do not blast us with
frozen flakes. Some joke and say that it is because god likes the warm weather, while some say
it is because something is out of order in the world. Some horrible thing is happening that is only
made right through a moral learned by all.

There was a girl who lived only with her mother, her father had gone far away to work
and earn money for the two. They lived in a small town with a large forest next to it, some
people from the town lived in the forest. One of them being the girls grandmother. The only time
that the girl was able to visit her grandmother was when her mother needed to speak to her, or
bring her groceries. But the girl enjoyed speaking to her grandmother and decided that she
would bake her some cookies so she would be happy.

One day after school, when the girls mother was taking a nap, the girl baked fresh
cookies, put them into a basket, and put on her coat to go to her grandmother's house. She
sneaked out quietly and began her trek to the house in the forest. It was so quiet that you could
hear a pin drop onto the ground, and for the forest this was a strange occurrence. It was as if
the entire world was paused and focused on the girl.

The girl had nearly arrived at her grandmother's house when a cunning wolf spotted her
footsteps. He recognized instantly that it was a young child walking up the trail, and decided to
follow the tracks. He was able to smell the freshly baked cookies, so he knew he was close.
Once he realized where the girl was going he decided to go into the girls grandmother’s house
and wait for the girl. But he had a more complex plan. He would hide the grandmother in a
closet and put on her wig with glasses and hide in her bed as if he was the grandmother.

The wolf did exactly as he planned and laid down on grandmother’s bed, pulling the
covers all the way up to the bottom of his face. As the girl approached the door, she knocked
twice and heard a strange reply. The wolf said, “Who’s there?” The girl replied, it’s me grandma,
little red riding hood.” The wolf grinned deeply and knew his plan was going into the right
direction. He replied, “oh sweetie, it’s so nice you came to visit me, I have a cold right now so
you can let yourself in.” Little red creaked the door open and noticed a cup knocked over, which
was strange as grandma always kept her things together.

The girl walked into her grandmother's room and said to the disguised wolf, “I baked you
some cookies, these are your favorite!” The wolf replied, “oh sweetie, you are the kindest. Can
you bring them to me please?” Little red inched towards the bed, and placed them down onto
the table next to the bed, she exclaimed, “I’ll be right back grandma, I have to use the
bathroom!” The wolf sighed quietly and said, “ok sweetie, be back quickly!”

Little red knew something was strange for sure now, she noticed grandmas locket on the
ground next to the dresser, her grandma would never leave her locket on the ground. She
darted out of the home making no noise, and ran straight to the lumberjack. The lumberjack was
alarmed at the sight of the girl but listened to her pleads and followed her back to grandma’s
home.

The lumberjack creaked the door slightly open, raising his axe in case of an intruder.
BOOM! The wolf barged open the door to grandma’s room and let out a howl. With less than a
second to react the lumberjack flung his axe directly into the wolf’s skull, hitting him between the
eyes. THUD! The wolf’s body hit the ground, and grandma’s wig fell off of his head. Little red
looked for grandma and found her, stuck in the closet, unable to speak as her mouth was
covered. She let her grandma out and comforted her, giving her the cookies she had baked.
Little red even gave the lumberjack some cookies for his valiant bravery and quick call to help.