The Hole through Which the Devils Flew Out

Beside the hermitage one used to go by the light of a torch or candle into a cave which had a small opening at the top. Through that hole, according to the legend, the devils flew out of the cave when Saint Procopius entered the rocky cavern. They also used to show the devil's head there, and beside it smoothed hollows and depressions in the rock where the devil, out of boredom, had whetted his claws so diligently that he wore pits into the stone. According to a mistaken tradition the saint lived here too and wrote that holy gospel which found its way to France, where the French kings swore on it at their coronation. In truth, however, Saint Procopius did not live here but at Sázava, and the tale arose only after the church was founded; other hermits of the Ivanite order did, however, live here in the last century. By now both the cave and the former hermitage have disappeared through the quarrying of the rocks.