Adršpach - Oficiální stránky obce

Wood Woman

Many years ago, a couple of children were gathering mushrooms in the Adrspach forest. They were laughing and larking around so loudly, that they woke up a wood woman sleeping by a pond. She got up and started to chase them. She was a full-figured woman wearing a green dress. The children were running but the wood woman succeeded in grasping one child's scarf and ripping it off the child's head. Then she returned back to the pool. The child, a boy, cried and told everything to his mother. Mother asked an old farmer what to do. He said that the child should go back to the forest exactly at noon and that the scarf will be returned to him. The child did what the farmer said. When he was approaching the forest a bolt of lightening struck a place quite near and the boy wanted to return back home. At that moment however, the wood woman appeared there holding the scarf in her hand and said: "Take this scarf and remember, don't shout when you come to the forest again otherwise it will cost you your life". Then she disappeared.(The lesson to be learned from this tale: The only creatures to be allowed to shout in the forest are wood women).

Robber's Axe

Very long ago, the Adrspach area was covered by a dense forest. The only rock spires that were visible were those on Old Castle Hill along with a castle that towered proudly on its top. The castle was occupied by robbers. They would lie along the trail leading to Trutnov in wait for wayfarers and traders to rob and kill them filling the whole country with horror. At that time, the village of Adrspach had just a few houses built in clearings and surrounded by flax fields. Their inhabitants lived in permanent stress and uncertainty. One night in winter, the people gathered in a house telling stories about the dreadful and abominable offences the robbers had committed and all the listeners were stricken with fear. Only a young maid was not. She said that she did not fear the robbers and was willing, for a small reward, to go to the castle and to bring something from there in proof of her being there. After she was promised some reward, the brave maid set out on her dangerous journey. She came to the gate which was open. Her heart started pounding when she heard the robbers quarreling inside. Completely frightened, she was about to turn back when she glimpsed some clothes drying on a line. She snatched one piece off the line and started to run away but, ouch! She loosened a stone that began to roll down the hill making a lot of noise. She heard not only dogs barking and chasing her but also the robbers who plunged forward to catch her. She was running and praying. Finally she saw the house and was approaching the door when one of the robbers who was hot on her heels threw his axe at her at the moment she was touching the door. Fortunately, the axe missed her and hit the door frame. The axe can be seen in that old house up to this day. The maid was praised everywhere for her courage but the robber must have been sad as he lost two things that night: his shirt and axe.

Night Hunter

Once upon a time there lived a carpenter named Gotsche in Dolni Adrspach. The carpenter used to go to the manor granary at night to steal. After he died, his soul did not find peace and rest. As a "night hunter" with eight small dogs he would chase passers-by at the St. John's chapel in the village of Zdonov until they lost their way. Nevertheless if the passer-by walked slowly and cautiously, the hunter and the dogs disappeared without causing any harm.

Tale of the Middle Mill

Many years ago, a rich man acquired the Middle Mill in Dolni Adrspach. The spacious and large shed that he caused to be built and that can be seen even today shows that the man must have been really rich. He, however, was said to have obtained his property with the help of evil powers. The thing is that he had a book of wizardry usually hidden in a secret room. One day a naughty apprentice traced his master and watched him read the book through the keyhole of the secret room. The next Sunday, when at the service in the church in Zdonov, the miller had left the room unlocked and the apprentice had noticed that. He hesitated long but finally he ventured nervously into the room. He opened the book and started to read the secret charms and magic words. But suddenly, good heavens!, he read out a spell to call crows and ravens. The birds gathered on the roof and in the garden and then they flew in the house. They were all the crows and ravens from the rock and no wonder that they filled up the whole house. The miller was nervous in the church having a sense of foreboding that something was going on. He left the church and spurred on his horse. In a short time, he saw his mill shrouded in a black cloud. It was very difficult for him to get inside. There, in the corridor, stood bags with corn, he took them and poured the corn in the river. At that moment a lot of birds flew down to the river and drowned.Now, the miller slogged his way through the remaining birds back to the secret room. There he saw the boy half dead with fright. He wrenched the book from his hands, read out a couple of lines backwards and the birds disappeared as quickly as they appeared. The apprentice was cured forever of his curiosity.

The Old Castle

Almost one thousand years ago, around 1000 a.d., a Pole named Nislav, a leader of a gang of robbers, build a watchtower named "The Treasury" in the place where the castle in Zacler stands at the present time. As the robbers often quarrelled are were disunited, ten of them under the command of a man named "Alt" (Old) left Nislav and moved to the Adrspach region where they established a place of refuge on the top of the highest hill. From there, they were carrying on their sharp practice for a long time not being disturbed by anybody. The Nislav's fortress was discovered by fishermen who would fish in the Upa River. When they were having a rest, they heard the cock's crow which was quite unusual in the wilderness. They followed the sound when they glimpsed the watchtower. They reported what they had seen to the army leaders. The tower was then encircled, sixty robbers captured and taken before Duke Udalrich in Prague. Shortly after that the old fortified castle in Adrspach was occupied as well.

Petrified Towns

In the place of both the "Rock Towns" once stood two real towns inhabited by the Czechs. Whenever the enemy forces wanted to invade the country, they had to use the gap in the mountains where the towns were located as that was the only way in the impenetrable wilderness all around. It happened several times that the inhabitants of the towns, being bribed, let the enemy armies come in the rich country to plunder it. One of our ancestors' gods got angry with the inhabitants of the towns and made the towns petrify. The houses, churches, people, animals and other things turned into stone at that moment. Later, when old-Slavonic gods were leaving this region, they forgot to undo what they had done. So, both the towns have remained as they were: turned into stone, overgrown with bushes and covered with dense forest with grass and trees in their squares and streets.

The Origins of the Name of the Metuje River

After the Benedictine monks settled in the town of Police and vicinity, they strove to explore the countryside including headwaters or all the rivers and creeks. The biggest river in this area is the Metuje River rising in the "wild rocks of Adrspach". At that time, the river was not named and nobody knew the place of its head. One day the Benedictines set out on a journey to explore the river. They had food for several days and were accompanied by ten armed men. They proceeded step by step upstream slogging their way through the dense forest along the river. When the sun started to set, they pitched camp at the edge of the wild rocky area. They lighted a fire, made dinner and fell asleep on a soft moss. In the morning, they continued their exploration journey. After a long time they finally found the head of the river and set forth on the journey back. While they were proceeding quickly through the wilderness as the pathway had already been hacked, they occupied their minds with the name to be given to the river. They were coming up with various names but Vitalias, their leader, did not like any of them. "Let's wait, we might find some name by chance", he said. It was well after midday, when the party stopped in the shade of big maples and had a rest. Suddenly, one of the men exploring the vicinity of the place heard bees humming. Then he found the bees in a hollow maple trunk. They had so much honey that it flowed down the trunk. The man, surprised with his discovery cried out "Med tu je!", "Med tu je!" ("I have found honey!"). When Vitalias heard this, he thought hard for a while and then he said : "Friends, here is the name for the river! Let's change it a little bit from "Med tu je" to "Metuje". Let the river keep this name for all future time." Then he blessed the water in it and called his companions together. All of them agreed with the name and the river has had it up to this day.

(Remark: Names of rivers, creeks and streams form the oldest layer of geographical names in Bohemia. The river names such as Labe, Vltava, Ohre, Metuje, Jizera and others are pre-Slavonic words.
The name "Metuje" belongs to the Proto-European layer. The original name of the river was Medhuje (later pronounced and written "Metuje"). The origins of this word go back to the Indo-European root of *medh- (meaning "middle") as the Metuje river is really in the middle between the Upa and Orlice Rivers.)

Sources and Literature:

Libuse Olivová-Nezbedová a kol. 1995: Pomistni jmena v Cechach

A. Krticka-Policky, 1925: Baje a povesti z kraje Jiraskova