PRAGUE - THE LEGEND OF THE WHITE LADY
By Sandra Skoda-Whipple

     Prague. The central European capital is known as the "City of a Thousand Towers". But, it is also known as a city of a thousand tales. Prague and the surrounding countryside is filled with mysteries and legends of ghosts and mythical creatures.
     Situated about 100 miles south of Prague is the beautiful 13th century Gothic castle called Cesky Krumlov (Cheskee Kroomlof - pictured above). It is a beautiful example of a small central European medieval town whose architecture and history spans over five centuries.
     The Rosenberg family had a castle in Cesky Krumlov and the child of Ulrich Von Rosenberg was a beautiful girl named Perchta. When she was old enough, her father married her off against her will to Jan Von Lichetenstein, a violent and boorish man who had been a widower for only a short time.
     Her marriage was a misery from the start and she wrote desperate letters to her brother, "Take me away from these evil people and you will merit praise as if you released a soul from Purgatory." Unfortunately, her pleas were in vain as the morals of the time would not allow a wife to leave her husband even if he mistreated her.
     It was not until her husband's death that she was released and returned to Cesky Krumlov where she became a kind hearted patron of those who suffered. Sadly, her face reflected the pain and suffering she had endured and no one ever saw her smile again. Downcast, slender, her beautiful golden hair covered with a white veil, she would wander through the corridors and courtyards of the castle and watched over her brother's estates.
     In 1476, at the age of 49, she was released from her sad and lonely life and her death was a terrible blow for the Rosenberg Lords as well as the poor throughout the region. They never stopped mourning her. But, is she really gone from this earthly plane?
     Soon after her death, people claimed that Perchta began to meet them in their dreams and she began to appear at the castles of Cesky Krumlov, Rozmberk and other Rosenberg castles in the region. She was seen, strolling the hallways, wearing a simple white dress with keys around her waist. A smile on her face was a sign of good fortune, whereas black gloves on her hands and a solemn expression foretold impending disaster or death.
     The White Lady, as she became known, took care and watched over the children of the family and protected them from harm. She took special care of the last child of the family, Peter Wok.
     Once, one of the nurses in charge of the baby, fell asleep and the ghost of Perchta appeared, going to the cradle to comfort the child. When the nurse awoke and found the child in the arms of a strange woman, she cried out angrily, "How dare you! You have nothing to do with that child!" As the nurse reached forward to take the baby, Perchta clasped him to her heart and replied, "It is my right to look after this child as he belongs to my family." She turned to the other nurses who had been awakened by the noise and rebuked them. "Why don't you do your duty as is right and proper?" She then gave the child to the nurse and instructed, "Look after the baby. When he grows up, tell him how much I have loved him and show him the place from which I used to come to his cradle and then leave." She gave the infant, Peter, a smile and a kiss and disappeared into the wall in a white cloud.
     When Peter Wok grew up and heard the White Lady's message, he had the wall where she vanished demolished and it is believed that he found a treasure there. It is stated that it was the last time the White Lady was ever seen.
     Or was it?
     During World War II, when the German's occupied then Czechoslovakia, the Nazis resided in Cesky Krumlov and flew their flag from the great tower of the castle. When it was time to raise the flag in the tower, two girls assigned the task came running down the steps, screaming that a lady in white appeared and frightened them away. Could it have been the spirit of Perchta still watching over her beloved castle?

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