Page:A history of Bohemian literature.pdf/51

This page needs to be proofread.
34
A HISTORY OF BOHEMIAN LITERATURE

—Rudolph, keeping the others, makes over Bohemia and Moravia to the king. . . . Alas for the noble king—That he did not remain true to his owm nation—Thus would he have obtained great fame—And also great riches—With the help of which he could have made yet further conquests—And defeated all his foes.—But the king continued to revile his countrymen—To injure them whenever he could."

A lengthy account of the grievances of various great Bohemian nobles against King Ottokar follows. The writer closes the chapter dealing with that king by these words: "When, therefore, the king had need of the Bohemians—He did not receive willing aid from them—They left him when he required them.—When the king saw that he could not rely on them in the hour of need—As they would not forget their sufferings and the evil—(which they had endured) The king said: 'When I return from the wars—I will inflict much evil on the Bohemians—I will thus stain the Petrin[1] with their blood—That no Bohemian will any longer be seen on the bridge of Prague.—Truly he could no longer wish to live.'—When he spake such words publicly.—Few Bohemians did he take with him—He marched with Germans, made them his own—Zavis[2] and his brother were with Rudolph—This was very harmful to the Bohemian king—For he (Zavis) knew the strength of his forces—And had friends in his army—When at daybreak they were preparing for battle—Zavis sent a message to the king, saying—That if he were gracious to him—He would be

1 A hill near Prague (known in German as the Laurenz Berg), where the executions then took place.

2 The head of the family (or rather clan) of Vitkovic, whom Ottokar had exiled.

  1. 1
  2. 2