Tradition / Region: Swiss Mythology
Alternative names: Dragon Reed
Category: Crocodile, Dragon
The Myth
According to a legend from Unterwalden, a terrible dragon once lived in a cave above the village of Wyl on the shores of Lake Lucerne. The monster was described as a hideous lindworm covered in scales with razor-sharp claws. When it flew through the air, it resembled a gigantic flying crocodile, and it could breathe fire from its jaws.
The dragon devastated the surrounding countryside, devouring livestock and shepherds alike. No one was safe from its attacks, and even children and young women gathering food in the fields lived in constant fear. The destruction became so severe that the village earned the name Ödwyl, meaning “Desolate Wyl.”
A banished knight named Struthan Winkelried offered to slay the beast in exchange for permission to return to his homeland. Desperate for deliverance, the people accepted his offer.
Struthan confronted the dragon wearing chainmail and carrying a lance wrapped in thorn bushes. When the fire-breathing monster charged, it hurled itself onto the thorn-covered lance. After a fierce struggle, the dragon was slain.
As the knight withdrew his weapon, some of the dragon’s blood ran onto his bare arm. Although he immediately washed it away, the poisonous blood proved fatal, and he died soon afterward.
The people mourned the hero who had freed them from the dragon’s terror and built a memorial chapel on the place where he had defeated the monster.
Sources
SAGEN.at. (n.d.). Das Drachenried. In Traditionelle Sagen. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/drachenried.html