Czech Legends
Contributed in part by Lorenzo Cordini
The origin of Prague goes back to the 7th
century and the Slavic princess Libuše, a woman of great
beauty and wisdom who possessed
prophetic powers. Libuše and her husband, prince Přemysl,
ruled peacefully
over the Czech lands from the hill of Vyšehrad. A legend
says that one day Libuše had a vision. She stood on a
cliff overlooking the Vltava, pointed to a forested hill
across
the river, and proclaimed: "I see a great city whose
glory will touch the stars." ("Vidím město veliké,
jehož sláva hvězd se dotýkati bude."). She instructed
her people
to
go and
build
a castle where
a man
was
building
the threshold (in Czech práh) of a house. "And
because even the great noblemen must bow low before a threshold,
you
shall give it the name Praha". Her words were obeyed
and some two hundred years later, the city of Prague became
the seat of the Premyslid dynasty.
When the
Czech lands were ruled by prince Křesomysl, a farmer
named Horymír lived in
the village of Neumětely. He had a white horse of extraordinary
intelligence called Šemík. Due to Křesomysl's
obsession to find treasures that were
said to be
hidden underground,
people were encouraged
to abandon farming and to become miners. Horymír was
unhappy with Křesomysl's rule and warned that neglecting
farming would result in famine. His protests were not
liked by the miners who one day set
Horymír's
property
on fire. Horymír and his followers in turn burned down
the miners' village. Horymír
was
punished and sentenced
for execution. When he was asked his last wish,
he requested
one
last ride around the castle grounds on his beloved horse
Šemík. His wish was granted. When Horymír got on his
white horse,
he
whispered
something
in his ear. Šemík ran
to
the ramparts,
jumped over them and slid down the cliff. When the on-lookers
got to the ramparts, they
were astonished to see Horymír and Šemík on the other
side of
the Vltava, galloping
towards Neumětely.
The miraculous jump exhausted Šemík.
The dying horse spoke
to Horymír in a human voice and asked for a tomb to
be built for him. Horymír did as the horse wished. The
tomb has since disappeared but Šemík
is
said to be sleeping in the
Vyšehrad
rock,
ready to come out when his help is needed again.
 In the 16th century, during the reign of
Rudolf II, an old Jewish man named Rabbi Judah
Loew lived in Prague. During that time, the Jewish people
of Prague were being attacked and lived their lives in
fear. Rabbi Loew decided to protect the Jews against
pogroms by creating the Golem, a giant who according to
the Cabala could be made of clay from the banks of the
Vltava. Following the prescribed rituals, the Rabbi
built the Golem and made him come to life by
reciting a special incantation in Hebrew. The word "emet", meaning "truth",
was placed on the Golem's forehead.
The Golem would
obey the Rabbi's every order and would help and protect
the people of the Jewish Ghetto. However,
as he grew bigger, he also became more violent and started
killing people and spreading fear. Rabbi Loew was promised
that
the violence against the Jews would stop if the Golem
was
destroyed.
The
Rabbi
agreed. By removing the first
letter from the word "emet", thus changing it
to "met" (meaning "death"),
life was taken out of the Golem. According to legend,
the Golem was brought back to life by Rabbi Loew's son,
and may still be protecting Prague today.
One day a prisoner, looking at the famous
astronomical clock, noticed that a sparrow was caught in
the mouth
of Death. The unlucky man believed that sight to be
a bad omen and thought that he would spend the rest of
his life in prison. But, as the next hour stroke, the
clock started moving again, the jaw of Death opened
and, to the prisoner's great relief, the sparrow set itself
free and flew away. A few days later the convict was
released from prison and was free again.
The name of the Tower
of Dalibor (Daliborka) at the Prague Castle is connected
to one of Prague's best-known legends,
which was also made into an opera by Bedřich Smetana
in 1868.
According to this legend, a man called Dalibor
from Kozojedy, a small town near Litoměřice, was sentenced
to death
and imprisoned in this tower for giving shelter to some
rebellious
peasants.
While waiting for the fatal day, Dalibor would play
his violin and his music was so beautiful that all
the people
of Prague were moved and enchanted and the local authorities
didn't dare announce the date of the execution.
People knew that the generous Dalibor was dead when his
violin fell forever silent.
A legend says that
a wealthy man called Myslík was forced to run away from
Prague after the battle of the White
Mountain. He gathered all his precious silver and
melted it in a fish-shaped clay mould. Before leaving
his beloved Prague, Myslík hid the silver fish inside
a wall of his house. Many years later a new tenant
was living in that house. One day, this man was ordered
by
the city counselors to tear down the old building and
build a new one. The poor man fell into despair at
the news as he didn't have the money to do that. He
was
about to leave his house when Myslík's silver fish
fell out of a broken wall. The precious object
allowed
the man to restore his old house. This legend is still
well known in Prague and the moral of this story is
that someone's
misfortune may always turn into someone else's good
luck and so we should never lose our hope.
- Legends
of Prague
- Golem:
Legends of the Ghetto of Prague
- Golem
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