doubtedly founded on old traditions, have remained widely popular in Bohemia, so that it may be well briefly to notice them. Cosmas tells us that the Bohemian prince Krokus (or Krok), whom he calls the first ruler over the country, had three daughters, Kázi, Teta (or Lethka), and Libussa. Kázi, the eldest, was equal to the Colchian Medea in her knowledge of medicine and poisons; whilst the second, Teta, was learned in religious rites, and taught the ignorant people to worship Oreades, Dryades, and Hamadryades.[1] "The Third (sister), smaller in the number of years but greater in wisdom, was called Libussa … she was a wonderful woman among women; chaste in body, righteous in her morals, second to none as judge over the people, affable to all and even amiable, the pride and glory of the female sex, doing wise and manly deeds; but as nobody is perfect, this so praiseworthy woman was, alas, a soothsayer."[2] Libussa, though the youngest of the three sisters, was chosen by the people to be their ruler; whether in consequence of her many qualities that he enumerates, Cosmas does not tell us. Libussa reigned for some time over the people, and is said to have founded the city of Prague at the foot of the Vyšehrad, and to have foretold its future greatness.
At length, however, the Bohemians became discontented with female rule, and when Libussa was judging a dispute between two nobles, the one against whom she decided insulted her, and said that his country was the only one that endured the shame of being ruled over by a woman. Libussa then said to the people that she saw they were too ferocious to be ruled over by a woman. She begged them to disperse, and on the following day to choose a man to rule over them; whomsoever they might choose she promised to take as a husband. The people replied by asking her to choose a husband, whom they would acknowledge as their prince. Libussa consented, and on the following day said to the assembled people, pointing to the distant hills, "Behind these hills is a small river called Belina, and at its bank a farm called Stadic. Near that farm is a field, and in that field your future king is ploughing with two oxen marked with various spots. His name
