The Miraculous Bagpipes

The town and Gallows Hill above it are linked to a legend that loosely inspired Tyl’s Švanda the Bagpiper. The local young man Švanda was an outstanding bagpiper. One night, returning from a dance in Dražejov, he was stopped in the woods by a man in black who offered good pay if he played for his company. He led him to a lit house where more men in black were playing cards. Švanda played, the gamblers danced around him and tossed gold coins into his cap. When it was full, he broke his promise of silence and thanked them. Everything vanished. In the morning, Švanda was found asleep beneath Kání, or Gallows Hill, with several hanged men swaying around him. He realised he had played for the dead. People advised him to place the bagpipes in the castle church. They supposedly remained behind the altar for a long time and played by themselves every year on the anniversary of the night he had entertained devils and corpses.