The Town of Mercury

According to an old legend with an apparently allegorical meaning, the charcoal burner Trut, whose name is an anagram of the Czech word for mercury, cleared the forests here and founded a cemetery. Something, however, dragged bodies out of the graves. Trut searched the forest, and the cries of ravens revealed the resting place of an enormous dragon. He found it asleep among the corpses. Together with the villagers, he barricaded the entrance to its cave with thick tree trunks and set everything alight. With a maddened roar, the dragon finally died in convulsions. The rock was blackened, and the surrounding patch of forest had to be watched to prevent it from burning. They then carried the dragon's remains out of the cave. Prince Oldřich raised Trut to the rank of country nobleman; in another version Albrecht of Trautenberg takes his place. Trut founded his stronghold, Trutnov, on the site of the cave. He had the dead dragon stuffed and brought it to Brno, where it still hangs in the town hall. It was also carved into the stone surround of Trutnov's fountain. Since the Middle Ages the town's coat of arms has featured a dragon and a raven circling its battlements. The dragon also appears as a borderland monster in Náchod and Hředle; see those entries.