Why the Gypsies Must Wander the World

The Gypsies first appeared in Prague in 1416 and beguiled the people. People nevertheless felt compassion for them, because they are said to have to go on wandering the world for this, that their forefathers did not receive the Virgin Mary when she was fleeing with the Infant Jesus and Saint Joseph. But already under Ferdinand I it was said of them that they were incendiaries and Turkish spies, and they were driven out. Shortly after 1600 one reads that they told people's fortunes, especially women's — and towards the end of the seventeenth century and afterwards they were no longer merely driven out but shot like vermin.