Myth of the Week · Albania
The Kulshedra for kids: Albania’s dragon legend
· P.Sean Tales
Here is a dragon most kids have never heard of. High in the mountains of Albania lives the kulshedra — an enormous many-headed serpent whose arrival means the streams dry up and the rain stops falling.
The dragon of drought
The kulshedra is not a treasure-hoarding dragon. What she hoards is water. Villages told stories of her blocking the springs until someone brave enough came along to make her let go.
The winged heroes
That someone is a drangue — a hero born with tiny wings hidden under his arms, sometimes discovered only when a thunderstorm rolls in. Drangue are born, not trained, and a village was proud to have one.
A battle in the clouds
When the two meet, the fight happens in the sky. Albanians say that is exactly what a thunderstorm is: the drangue hurling lightning and thunderbolts at the kulshedra far above the peaks, and the rain that follows is the sign he has won.
Did you know?
Some tales say a drangue fights using whatever is nearby — even uprooted trees and boulders flung from the mountainside.
Color the legend yourself
The kulshedra and the drangue star in Myths & Legends of Albania — the legends, spirits and monsters of the Balkans, ready to color:
- Myths & Legends of Albania — the kulshedra, the drangue and more
- Slavic Myths & Monsters — Poland
- Greek Monsters, Giants & Heroes
Or start free: grab the free coloring pages.
You can find them in our book: Myths & Legends of Albania.