The King Who Hid in a Cupboard during Storms

That king was so pious that to many it seemed excessive. On account of the hardships he had to endure in his youth he was of weak body and so timid that during a thunderstorm he is said to have hidden in a cupboard. But he was kind-hearted: once, in ill humour, he turned away a poor man who at a banquet asked his help against the officials of Kraków, and he afterwards so repented that rashness that he wished to punish himself and deliberately burned his foot, so that he limped. His good will is attested also by his own words, that he knew he was not able to rule his people as well as he would wish; and he is said to have often remarked that if he were free to hand over the government to whomever he chose, he would gladly do so and would yield the throne even to the meanest groom, if he knew that the man would rule better than he.