age by a rope
fastened to his foot, while the rest dance about, blow their trumpets, and
whistle. In every farmhouse the King is chased round the room, and one of
the troop, amid much noise and outcry strikes with his sword a blow on the
King's robe of bark till it rings again. Then a gratuity is demanded.(570)
The ceremony of decapitation, which is here somewhat slurred over, is
carried out with a greater semblance of reality in other parts of Bohemia.
Thus in some villages of the Koeniggraetz district on Whit-Monday the girls
assemble under one lime-tree and the young men under another, all dressed
in their best and tricked out with ribbons. The young men twine a garland
for the Queen, and the girls another for the King. When they have chosen
the King and Queen they all go in procession, two and two, to the
ale-house, from the balcony of which the crier proclaims the names of the
King and Queen. Both are then invested with the insignia of their office
and are crowned with the garlands, while the music plays up. Then some one
gets on a bench and accuses the King of various offences, such as
ill-treating the cattle. The King appeals to witnesses and a trial ensues,
at the close of which the judge, who carries a white wand as his badge of
office, pronounces a verdict of "Guilty" or "Not guilty." If the verdict
is "Guilty," the judge breaks his wand, the King kneels on a white cloth,
all heads are bared, and a soldier sets three or four hats, one above the
other, on his Majesty's head. The judge then pronounces the word "Guilty"
thrice in a loud voice, and orders the crier to behead the King. The crier
obeys by striking off the King's hats with his wooden sword.(571)

(M165) But perhaps, for our purpose, the most instructive of these mimic
executions is the following Bohemian one, which has been in part described
already.(572) In some places of the Pilsen district (Bohemia) on
Whit-Monday the King is dressed in bark, ornamented with flowers and
ribbons; he wears a crown of gilt paper and rides a horse, which is als