d Town Hall. The King, finding this very irksome,
deliberated on some method of escaping, and had the happy thought of
insisting on a bath. It was in the autumn of the year 1394; the weather
was warm and the river close by. A few turns down the narrow winding
street named after his father would bring Wenceslaus to the river,
where, somewhat above the old town mill, was a bathing establishment.
The name of the owner of these baths seems to have been lost to history.
Not so that of his daughter Susanna. Now the name Susanna has appeared
before in recorded history also in connection with bathing--a most
irreproachable Susanna. We draw no parallel; we make no comparisons,
especially as no elders enter immediately into this story; we merely
state historic facts. Moreover, it was not Susanna who was taking the
bath this time, it was the King, and Susanna seems merely to have been
hovering about in a punt. Here was the monarch's opportunity. He
persuaded Susanna to take him across the river. Thus he escaped from his
enemies. Now there is no hint of an assignation, no suggestion that
Susanna was an accessory before the fact, merely the chronicler's
statement that the lady happened to be there and that she helped the
King to escape.

As was only right, King Wenceslaus proved his gratitude right royally.
He began by breaking up the lady's bathing establishment as a
preliminary to building a new and much more sumptuous one. Susanna's
father seems to have been left out of the deal altogether by this time.
The King then sent for Susanna, who appears to have been close at hand,
namely, in the Royal Castle of [vZ]ebrac, where the solemn rite now to
be related took place. After all, if you must break up a lady's home,
the least you can do is to offer her suitable accommodation elsewhere.
Susanna therefore appeared before the King, who solemnly invested her
with a charter by virtue of which all those who followed the pursuit of
keeping a bathing establishment should by their occupation be placed on
a social level with the masters of other arts and crafts. They might,
indeed, hold high their head among their fellows. It was expressly
stated that no Jews, infidels, heretics, or lewd persons should be
allowed to patronize bathing establishments; nor might they even enter
into the dwelling-places of those who came under the new charter. Severe
penalties were to be imposed on those who ventured to speak ill of the
keeper of a bathing establi