THE LEGENDS: The Dragon Who Collected Stones. The Role of Local Traditions in the Interpretation of the "Opole Mineral Crucible"

This article interprets the Annaberg Dragon legend as a unique, "geologically pure" record of the Miocene epoch in the Mount St. Anna region. Unlike typical myths, it lacks human actors, functioning instead as a cosmogonic report of tectonic and volcanic forces. The Dragon personifies geodynamic energy, whose "treasures"—diverse rocks and fossils from different eras—represent the region’s lithological complexity. The legend’s climax, a powerful tail strike, metaphorically describes a tectonic impulse and hydrothermal pressure spike that scattered these materials, creating the "Opole Mineral Crucible." This process aligns with the scientific phenomenon of metasomatism, where Miocene silica fused Devonian corals with Cretaceous flora. The author suggests this folk tale is one of the oldest intuitive accounts of mineralogical processes, prioritizing the understanding of geological mechanisms over mere observation.