How sulfur was created

Intro

That's the 9th post from that series which in total will include 16 publications. If you want to read the previous legend published by me, check those links:

It's the legend, so obviously it's not the story I created, but it may vary a bit from the versions that other people know. I wrote it on my own, with my words, in a way it was said to me when I was a child and how I remembered it.

_source

Once upon a time, a huge flying dragon lived near Staszów. It aroused fear and terror among the people. The inhabitants were afraid to leave their homes because the monster was devouring everything it found on its way: sheep, cattle, even people. It had a huge mouth and constantly split fire from it.

The ruler of Staszów at that time was Stasz, commonly named Kmiotko. He was a good leader who did not leave anyone in need. He decided to kill the dragon and free the people from it, so he called all the inhabitants to a conference to figure out together how could it be done. The citizens were talking for long hours about how to kill the monster. It was not easy, because the beast also hunted people, so everyone who would get closer to it could die.

The dragon, when he was hungry, roared aloud. These screams were so loud that they didn't let people sleep at night. Everyone was very tired, they took care of their homes and their children during the day and wanted to rest after a long day but it was impossible. Haunted by the whole situation, the people decided to deal with the dragon in a tricky way. They knew that the monster always drank a lot of water after a heavy meal. Together with the inhabitants, they came up with the idea of collecting the most poisonous mushrooms and prepare a soup for the dragon. They did so.

They went in a group to the forest and found a place where many mushrooms grew. Each of the residents collected a full basket, even the children were eager to help: kids picked colorful mushrooms and ran happily through the forest. They knew that they were not allowed to put anything in their mouths, they just had to wash their hands well before. For fear of poisoning the water, their parents forbade them to do it in the stream, they could do it only in the large log dedicated to it.

Mushroom baskets were loaded onto carts and brought to town. The peasants prepared a large fire and placed the biggest pot in the village on it. The women cooked a soup and when it cooled down a bit, they took it to the dragon. The hungry beast quickly devoured all the food. Suddenly, the dragon began to flap its wings, it wanted to fly high, but could not. He was getting weaker minute by minute.

The stunned crowd did not know what was happening. They assumed his stomach ached. After a while, the beast began to stumble and fell to the ground. The townspeople began to dance happily that the dragon was defeated. There was great joy among the inhabitants. Suddenly, they saw a dirty yellowish liquid leak out of his mouth. It poured deep into the cracks in the earth.

They did not know what to do, the yellow liquid was everywhere. They figured out they could dig it in the deep wells and bury it. They do so, and the liquid eventually fossilized in the ground. At one point they thought that the yellow rock was gold that glitters in the sun. They began to think about wealth and prosperity for themselves and their children. They dreamed of a great city and a great treasure. People wanted to lead a quiet and dignified life. Peasants dreamed of a herd of animals, ponds filled with fish, and women dreamed of wooden and white gardens filled with beautiful flowers. They were concerned when they saw that the yellow rock was not gold and that it was not treasure but sulfur...

How wrong they were. Sulfur is a natural treasure from which many products are made today, but in the old days, no one knew about it. The place where the dragon was poisoned was named Grzybowo ("Grzybowo" in Polish means "Mushroomy") in memory of the dragon soup. To this day, a yellow rock called sulfur is mined there.

Thank you for reading,
@papi.mati

Grzybowo location