The Dishonest Measurer by the Town Hall Tower

On the side of the town hall facing Vodičkova Street an iron Bohemian ell has been set into the wall since 1760. Measures and weights were not everywhere the same, and so when a merchant or seller from out of town came to market, his first concern was to check his own ell against the ell set in the town hall wall. People also came here to make sure whether the draper or linen merchant had given them good measure. Not everyone, however, could reach the ell, and so they were glad when a man offered to stand there and, for a small tip, measure their purchases for them. For a time all went well. But then a certain trader bribed the good measurer always to praise the measure of goods bought from him, and when this came out the dishonest measurer disappeared. The other traders cursed him, and so to this day, it is said, he has no peace in the grave and runs about here by the tower — from midnight, as may be understood, until the first crowing of the cock.