The Forest Marksman

Around Rotava, people told of a ghost appearing in the woods at midnight, striking trees with great force and making a racket. It also pursued poachers until the witching hour ended, and could be heard urging on its dogs. It was called the Forest Marksman. It could be malicious too, supposedly turning a poor man into a tree stump. A charcoal burner freed him only by accidentally cutting the stump with a knife. Such is the account of J. V. Grohmann, the well-known nineteenth-century collector of Bohemian legends.