Page:The story of Prague.djvu/28

 woman was, alas, a soothsayer.’ The last words, no doubt, refer to Libussa’s prophecy of the future greatness of Prague, which will be mentioned presently.

The great merits of Libussa do not, however, appear to have reconciled the Bohemians to the rule of a woman. When Libussa had been sitting in judgment on a dispute between two nobles—brothers who both claimed the paternal inheritance—the one to whom the princess’s decision was unfavourable insulted her by exclaiming that it was a shame for a country to be ruled by a woman. Libussa then declared that she would no longer rule so ferocious a people. She bade the people disperse and reassemble on the following day, when she would accept as husband whomsoever they might select. The Bohemians, however, declared that they would leave the choice to her and accept as their ruler the man whom she would choose. Libussa, who here is represented as a visionary or soothsayer, then said, pointing to the distant hills, ‘Behind these hills is a small river called Belina and on its bank a farm named Stadic. Near that farm is a field and in that field your future ruler is ploughing with two oxen marked with various spots. His name is Premysl and his descendant will rule over you for ever. Take my horse and follow him; he will lead you to the spot.’

Guided by Libussa’s horse, the Bohemian envoys immediately set forth and found the peasant Premysl ploughing his field. They immediately saluted him as their ruler. Premysl mounted the horse and, followed by the Bohemian envoys, proceeded to the Vysehrad, where he was immediately betrothed to Libussa. The chroniclers tell us that when he arrived at the Vysehrad he still wore the dress of the Bohemian peasant, and that his rough shoes were preserved in the Vysehrad castle as late as the twelfth century. Premysl became the founder of a line that ruled in Bohemia up to 1306; 2