You remember well, Helen, there is a legend about a Warsaw dragon called Bazyliszek.
Bazyliszek is a Polish name for the basilisk, in Greek and European bestiaries and legends, a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power of causing death by a single glance.
In common language we also use the phrase "wzrok bazyliszka", the basilisk's glance which means a glance which kills.
A legend says that in the basements of the buildings located along one side of Dekert, at the corner of Krzywe Koło, there lived a Basilisk. It guarded the treasures once stored there, and every man who tried to reach them was killed by the gaze of the Basilisk, which turns men to stone. He was defeated in the end by a wandering tailor who showed the monster a mirror. The Basilisk was petrified by its own appearance; from then on, he was no longer a threat to residents. Today on the façade of the building there is a picture of the Basilisk, which is the symbol of the renowned Warsaw restaurant of the same name.
