Smoki w wierzeniach Kaszubów na tle słowiańskim .......... 111

DRAGONS IN THE BELIEFS OF THE KASHUBIANS AGAINST THE SLAVIC BACKGROUND

There are not many fantastic creatures in Kashubian legends and mythical stories. In addition to the late griffin, there is also a dragon of undoubtedly earlier provenance. Even though the figure of the dragon is inferior to other mythical creatures in terms of frequency, the juxtaposition of surviving mythical tales with Slavic material shows that the dragon must have played an extremely important role in early Kashubian beliefs. For it can be seen that his character is a continuation of the pre-Slavic aquatic dragons fighting zmajs (although on Kashubian ground zmajs have been replaced by stolems). This article will address two issues related to Kashubian dragons. Firstly, it will analyse the surviving local-historical legends and magic tales in which these creatures appear, in order to be able to describe their characteristics and the role they played in the imaginations of Kashubians. These findings will then be contrasted with the Slavic material in order to finally determine to what extent the Slavic beliefs associated with dragons are rooted in Kashubian beliefs.