Legend · České Budějovice
The hearse
On the open ground between the Black Tower and the deanery in České Budějovice, once called the Fruit Market, the town hearse was said to stand. It was told that between eleven and midnight it drove off by itself. One Budějovice tailor wanted a free ride.
According to an old Budějovice legend, before the deanery near the Black Tower, on the Fruit Market, stood the town hearse. It was told that between eleven and midnight it drove alone through the streets of the town. People therefore preferred to avoid the place at that hour.
In the town lived a cheerful tailor who thought he might get a free ride on the hearse. As soon as the crier sounded eleven, he came to the tower, sat on the driver’s seat and waited for the hearse to move.
At first he waited patiently, but the hearse did not stir. Midnight passed and still nothing happened. The tailor grew annoyed. He waited a little longer to see whether the legend would yet come true, then climbed down cursing that he had believed such nonsense.
Just as he turned to leave, the hearse jerked and rolled a few steps. The tailor leapt aside. From that night, they say, he never again mocked the stories told about the Fruit Market after eleven.
How it really was
The hearse legend is set on the Fruit Market between the Black Tower and the deanery in České Budějovice; the open ground is attested, the standing of the hearse belongs to legendary tradition.
The Fruit Market is attested. The open ground before the deanery by the Black Tower really served for selling fruit and vegetables and was still named as such in the twentieth century. The deanery and Black Tower still stand in their places.
That a town hearse stood there is part of the legend. A separate administrative or archival document that the hearse stood on exactly this public spot could not be found. The story belongs with the headless rider and the black dog among night warnings that kept people indoors after eleven.
Where to follow the legend
The open ground between the Black Tower and the deanery, České Budějovice. A short way from the square, on the way to the Cathedral of St Nicholas.
Where we know it from
- Encyklopedie Českých Budějovic, hesla trhy, pověsti
- SCHINKO, Jan. Na Ovocném trhu stála dřív kašna. Dnes je prostor prázdný. Budějcká Drbna, 14. 5. 2020
- AMBROŽ, Václav. Ze starých Českých Budějovic. České Budějovice: Stráž lidu, 1921