The Czech Tale[]
The Old Town Astro-Clocks are the oldest working clocks in the world, and famous for their beauty,detail and the hourly show. One of the figures on the clocks is a skeleton holding in it’s right hand a bell and in the other hand a clepsidra (sand clock). It represents the Death as a part of life, reminding us of the famous “momento mori”. One day a prisoner, looking at the famous astronomical clock, noticed that a sparrow was caught in the mouth of Death. The unlucky man believed that sight to be a bad omen and thought that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. But, as the next hour stroke, the clock started moving again, the jaw of Death opened and, to the prisoner’s great relief, the sparrow set itself free and flew away.
A few days later the convict was released from prison and was free again. Today the Orloj is still ringing and striking each our, and the figures predicting symbolicly the destinies of many people.