The Premyslid dynasty was the longest-ruling line of princes and kings which ruled over the Bohemia land since the 9th century up until Wenceslaus III., with whom the bloodline ended. Forefather, the first king of the dynasty was – according to chronicler Kosmas – Premysl Orac.

Kosmas wrote the myth about princess Libuse and Premysl Orac at the beginning of the 12th century. According to this legend, people were not satisfied with Libuse as their ruler. They wanted a man to sit on a throne. The princess agreed and assigned messengers to follow her white horse to a village called Stadice and in the village look for a man named Premysl.

The messengers followed the horse for three days until they reached Stadice where the young boy pointed them to a man in a field with a hazel rod in his hand, plowing the field with his pair of spotted oxen. Surely enough, the princess’s white horse led them to the man on a field, neighed happily, and lowered his head in front of a young plowman. The messengers approached him, bowed, and said he was called by princess Libuse and the people of Bohemia to become their king.

The plowman stuck his hazel rod to the ground set the oxen free. He said to the messengers that they came too soon, he did not finish plowing the field, and now there will often be hunger in the kingdom. When he stuck the hazel rod in the ground, it gave it new life. Immediately three branches sprung from the wood; on those branches green leaves, and little nuts grew.

Premysl pulled bread and cheese out of his bag and invited messengers for a meal. As they were eating, two of the three branches on the newly sprung tree died, but the third one grew to be tall and wide. When the messengers asked Premysl what it meant, he told them that there would be many heirs in his generations, but only one would remain to rule over the land.

When they finished their meal, Premysl stood up to say goodbyes to his loved ones, dressed to his new royal robe messengers brought him, sat on the white princess horse, and rode to Vysehrad where Libuse was waiting for him.

That is how the legend is told by Kosmas. He wrote the story at the beginning of his chronicles and proclaims: “… And since these things have happened in ancient times, we let the reader judge whether they really happened or are fictional …” (Kosmas). Whether this legend about Premysl Orac was based on actual events or was utterly made up, we can only speculate. However, it is proven that in the time of the events described in the legend, no village called Stadice existed, so it is not likely that Premysl did either. (Jan Bauer, 2012)

The legend about Premysl Orac, according to Wikipedia, spiritually refers to the ancient Indo-European tradition about the origin of the Royal family from “Pramysl” (Elder mind) – hence the name Premysl. It also refers to an understanding of “drawn mind,” a product of cosmic plowing, creating a mind that also plows thereby is productive (as a field that is fertile thanks to plowing).