shoes, and went to the neighbouring stream to wash himself. He then dressed himself in the splendid dress which they had brought him; and having girded on the knightly sword, and put on the golden spurs, he mounted courageously the white courser, which allowed itself to be quietly guided.
When on the point of leaving his home for ever, he ordered the deputies to carry his wooden shoes, after him, and to preserve them as an historic token that at one time the lowest of the people had been elevated to the highest dignity in Bohemia, that he and his descendants might not be forgetful of their origin, but might honour and protect the peasantry, as the caste to which they once belonged. After that time it was a custom with the kings of Bohemia to have on the coronation day a pair of wooden shoes placed before them; and this custom was observed till the male line of Primislas became extinct.
The hazel-stick which Primislas had planted grew and bore fruit, and its roots spread around, till at last the whole field belonging to Primislas was changed into a hazel forest, greatly to the advantage of the neighbouring village; for its inhabitants obtained from the Bohemian kings a freehold patent, exempting them from all tax-