The Iron Staff from the Castle

The village contains ruins of a Gothic castle from the second half of the thirteenth century. After 1329, Jan IV of Dražice, the last bishop of Prague, rebuilt it with French builders. An iron staff was supposedly kept here, linked to this legend. The devil once tried to rob some bandits of their money. They resisted and drove him away. In the morning they found a staff inscribed: “Whoever lifts this staff will be fortunate.” They discovered that it struck the ground three times of its own accord wherever a treasure was hidden. The staff was eventually taken from a captured robber and kept at Dražice Castle. People believed that the devil came for it and used it in hell to torment sinful souls. At least that is how J. V. Grohmann tells it in his Czech Legends.