THE JUMPING PEASANT WOMAN

While fortifying Santon, French soldiers desperately needed relays to help their tired horses pull cannons to the firing line. They broke into house no. 22 and since they could not speak the Czech language, a wild French officer thrust his broadsword angrily into a cross beam. The gouges were still visible for many years following this scene.

The French searched through barns and stables to find food for their exhausted horses. They also looked in one Tvarozná building where the only person whom they encountered was a woman who was terribly hard of hearing. Allegedly, they yelled "Babo, ovsa" ("Old lady, give us oats") at her. The old woman did not understand them. She thought that they were saying "Hopsa" ("Jump"), and so anytime they demanded oats of her, she would jump as high as she could. The soldiers wondered what she was doing, but after a time, came to realize that she did not understand what they wanted. They pointed to horses tied to the fence outside, and emphatically demonstrated the act of chewing, until the old woman understood their wishes. She complied with their demand for oats.

(An except from "Tvarozná, Santon, and The Battle of the Three Emperors",
by František Gale and František Kopecký)