Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative Names: Goggau Windwurm, Windwurm of Goggau
Category: Dragon
The Myth
A terrible Windwurm once lived in Lake Goggau. According to the farmers of the surrounding area, the monster began its life in a most unusual way: a seven-year-old rooster laid a red egg in a manure pile, and three years later a dragon hatched from it.
The creature grew with astonishing speed, becoming a gigantic monster that devoured the animals of the surrounding countryside and eventually became a danger to humans as well. For a long time, the farmers could find no way to destroy the beast.
At last, an old man from the Wimitzgraben, who was also said to possess the powers of witchcraft, devised a plan. He concealed a large black lump filled with powerful poison inside a hay wagon and harnessed a pair of oxen to it.
No one was willing to drive the wagon to the lake, so the task was given to a farmhand known as the “Goggau-Togger.” As he passed Lake Goggau, the Windwurm spotted the oxen. With a tremendous leap, the dragon burst from the water and devoured the oxen, the wagon, and the farmhand.
The poison soon began to take effect inside the monster. The Windwurm writhed and strained in agony, until eventually the poison killed it.
Even into the last century, people were said to have seen remnants of the dragon’s bones around Lake Goggau.
Sources
“Der Goggausee.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus Österreich (Kärnten). Reproduced by SAGEN.at.
https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/kaernten/allgemein/goggausee.html