Moving away from this rather dark side of Prague mysticism there are, however, brighter beliefs. For example, the Vltava, the river that flows through Prague is thought to be inhabited by benign little people who smoke pipes, wear green and dispense good advice. They are in many ways rather like Irish leprechauns, which is interesting, as many Czechs will tell you that they have close historical links with the Celts. One of these sprites appears on the traditional Czech Taroky pack which we’ve used elements of in some cards in our deck.
Also more affirmative is the mysterious but lovely inscription on the first floor of the Old Town Bridge Tower. It is written with no spaces and is palindromic (it reads left to right or right to left):
It means "Revel yourself in the form of a sign (in the sky) in vain you reach for me, I am your desire. Rome, through movement (stars) suddenly love comes to you". It’s purpose? Well, apparently it was put there to fool demons which might try to harm the tower. It was believed that these demons, faced with a word puzzle, would simply read it again and again, unable to figure it out, until they became exhausted and went away. Who knows, perhaps it worked? Certainly the tower has survived undamaged through centuries, unlike many other medieval towers in Prague, a number of which were struck by lightening at various times (this inscription is used on The Star card, for which it seems most appropriate).
If you do visit Prague to search for such esoterica be careful where you go, for people claim that Prague’s streets move around. Gates will suddenly appear in a wall, leading to a never-before-seen garden, or a vista will suddenly open up: Was that tower spire really there yesterday? Surely that strange iron balcony was never in this road before? There is even believed to be a whole house "At the Last Lantern" which stands at the end of Golden Lane in the Castle and which only appears on certain nights on which it marks, appropriately enough, the bridge between the seen and the unseen.
So do the streets really move? Or is it just that their odd layout, twisting and turning and full of alley-ways, cut-throughs and crazy steps and statues, simply leaves people disoriented? Like so many things in Prague, it’s hard to know the truth.
A 19th century brass of a fairy couple skating - Czech or German
