I am posting these as much for me at this point – to have them stored some place for future reference….. Often, the article is translated by Google which is why it sounds a bit odd but Google still translates Czech better than I!
The Nakla Dragon
There are many legends linked to Nákl, one of which mentions a dragon. between Nákl and Mezice. In the hillside there was a “Deep Pit” caused by rumors of weather:
In a hillside stretching from Nákl to Mezice, a deep pit opened once after a storm and rain. Strange remains of an unknown creature were found here. People thought it was a dragon’s skeleton. However, there was another landslide and thus the gorge was covered. It is said that there were more dragon skeletons in the pit.
the second version mentions that a dragon settled in that pit. As he flew over it, he left a fiery belt behind him. He always disappeared in the direction of the Puddles toward Hynek. How many times in the night the villagers saw only those lights, but not the dragon itself. He flew only in a thunderstorm, when the thunder rattled and the wind howled and none of the people dared even stick their nose out of the cottage.
According to the villagers, the dragon was carried on the back of the witch. And the hole was a hiding place for witches, kneelers and all sorts of ghosts from all around. And above the hillside, there is a field today, but there used to be a large manor pond. And he was a hastman so they went to the dragon hole.
The rumor does not describe it more, but when you notice the part: the fire band and from the think of the dragon, you have the possibility that an unusual sign has been observed in the sky: which people may have believed where and what superstition. he could judge it was a dragon. something similar is mentioned in the weather records of the village of Nákla…
https://majovyhonzik.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/naklo-drak/
Interestingly, Naklo has a dragon boat event it seems each year.
Velke Karlovice
But one of the impressive excursions can also be found “below the hill”, hidden among the trees far from the main road and off the busy hiking trails, when about four kilometers along the road from the center of Velké Karlovice around cottages and pastures with sheep, in the nearby woods you suddenly open a view of a small lake, which you would not be in such a large area even expected.
The dam offers the opportunity for a short walk and sitting. Because it is forbidden to drive by car and the nearest road is far away, you can enjoy a truly exemplary silence disturbed only by the singing of birds or the voices of passers-by.
Karlovice Lake, simply called Lake, was probably created by a landslide, according to some estimates, even in the 16th or 17th century. In addition to its unclear origin, it is surrounded by a mysterious atmosphere thanks to legends and legends. It is said that the devil excavated the adjacent ditch as he tried to drain the water to his mill at the nearby Radhošť Mountain. And that the strange grooves in the surrounding boulders were left behind by the claws of the devils who were helping him.
Probably the best known is the legend that Karel Jaromír Erben has included in his National Fairy Tales. According to her, a sorcerer suddenly appeared to a local cottage man mowing the meadow and offered him enormous wealth by helping him lure two dragons out of the lake and fly them to a place he designated. The cottage man was very afraid of the dragons, but he needed money, so he agreed. The sorcerer led him to the shore of the Lake and lured two dragons out of the lake by his spell, saddled them with bast halbs, each of the men mounted one dragon and set off on their journey.
They flew for hours and hours over the forests, fields, and towns, until they finally landed in the square of a large city in the desert. Here the sorcerer killed both dragons, cut their flesh and sold them dearly to the locals. Then he rewarded the cottage richly with money, summoned a black goat on which the cottage was mounted, and the goat carried him back to his meadow in Velké Karlovice. The farmer cut the meadow, and since it was already smelling, he went home from work. Here his wife greeted him with a weeping cry because it was exactly a year since he wasn’t home.
Other rumors claim that dragons still live in the lake and hide from the eyes of people. No one has seen them in recent years. On the other hand, there are crayfish and other animals, such as clams.
Around the lake you can follow the hiking trail to other interesting places, including the ridge, from where you can continue to the mythical mountain Soláň.
https://www.valachy.cz/blog/v-jezere-ve-velkych-karlovicich-ziji-draci-psal-o-nich-i-karel-jaromir-erben/
Drahotus
Drahotuš castle ruins hidden in the woods of the Odry Hills above the village of Podhoří.
There is a legend that the fire dragon appeared here . .
The second legend tells the story that the castle was cursed with the castle lord and his ten sons, because they set out on a robbery journey, but eventually they were rescued by a fearless young man.
Little has been preserved from the castle. is almost forgotten. although it is in the same places but on the other side of the tracks. Today Helfštýn everyone knows but Drahotuš little who.
A unique stone bridge over the stream has been preserved under the castle on the access road. The castle has been preserved mounds, ditches, remains of masonry, preserved ground floor of the palace, probably exploded torn pieces of masonry tower, remains of ditches of external fortifications on the access side of the castle.
Drahotuch was a type of bergfrit castle. Its founders chose not exactly the ideal location on a rocky headland, which, although it falls to the south by steep slopes, but continues to the north still up to the height above the valley of Hell. In the north, the promontory was separated by a massive moat, over which stood a round tower that protected the gate, followed by three more moats, and on the southernmost rock was a palace. The remains of the basic walls of the tower, bastions and walls, and especially the ground floor part of the three-part palace, which was uncovered several meters high at the beginning of the 20th century, have been preserved.
The castle was founded by Bohuš of Drahotuš sometime before 1269. The land was administered by the land as a gift because it was used by King Přemysl Otakar II. great respect and seriousness.
Bohuš married Přemysl Otakar to his court as a margrave of Moravia. Marshal (after his father) made him in 1263, when he was Czech king and Austrian duke in Styria and Carinthia. Because Bohus proved to be reliable and capable, the King did not hesitate to give him a piece of his land in the Coast.
The territory to the east of Olomouc has always belonged to the landlord – prince – king – margrave. At the very border of the settlement, at the entrance through the Moravian Gate and still deep forests to Silesia and Poland, there is a zone called as early as 1222, typically named Hranice. The town was not yet, and a market village stood in its place. The center of the estate was the town of Drahotuše, after which the estate was named.Here is one peculiarity. That the size of Drahotuš was larger than Hranice … There was only a market place in Hranice. Had the situation in that region not changed Drahotuš would continue to grow. And perhaps it would even be located on both sides of the beech… But the growth of the town of Hranice lost the importance of the town of Drahotuš.
At the end of the reign of King Přemysl Otakar II. Drahousuch was a tough competition: the town was supposed to grow up in the border area that was still in the possession of the Hradiste crater. Budiš, the abbot of the monastery in the hillfort near Olomouc, released locator Thám to Hranice on the town on 4th March 1276. The donation of Drahotušsko to Bohuš and not to the bishop makes it possible to excel in the exceptional position that Bohuš enjoyed with the king. The Drahotušsko region was indeed a porta terrae, a gateway to the country, the Moravian Gate – the name used to date. It was only here, from the Ostrava Basin or Těšín region, that the provincial trail connecting the north with the south, the Baltic with Pannonia and Italy, Poland with Moravia.
Drahotuš Castle was built on the outcrop of the Oder Hills, from which it was possible to see a large part of the country. Originally the estates of Drahotuš were situated on both sides of Bečva, but when the second castle of Helfštýn was seized by the Lords of Kravaře, the southern part was torn off.
The descendants of Bohuš decided to sell the estate. These included the villages of Jezernice, Podhoří, Milenov, Radíkov, Slavíč, Klokočí, Hrabůvka, Velká, Svatošov, Středolesí, Soběkov, Uhřínov, part of Bohuslávka, Mikulůvka and Juřitinov.
The Lords of Drahotuš belonged to the Lords of Čeblovice. Lords of Drahotuš held the castle until 1371, then moved to Opava, where they occurred even longer.
Drahotuš received them from Margrave Jan Jindřich and then his son Jošt.In 1392, the then owner Josst Ctibor estate Tovačovský of Cimburk, the owner then acquired the estate Ctibor’s son Albrecht.
Albrecht Tovačovský of Cimburk was said to have been a supporter of the city of Drahotuše. So far, the subjects of the estate had relieved most of the robots and duties that the lords at the castle had required. He also deprived the city of dying, the law by which the property of childless husbands fell to the nobility.
In 1476, the most powerful Moravian magnate Vilém of Perštejn bought the manor with the castle from Jan Tovačovský of Cimburk for 7000 ducats; Mr. Vilém bought farms in the area – also Lipník and Přerov.The Pernštejns built mainly Hranice and the town of Drahotuše with the castle was only a source of income. At that time, Drahotuše Castle was probably destroyed. Despite this, Drahotuše was called a wealthy rural town, but slowly fell in the shadow of the rising Borders