ant entertainment for thee to-day,” and with these cruel words he struck the unfortunate prince upon the head with his sword. Václav seized his brother, threw him down, saying, “May God forgive thee, brother, for this deed!” Just then the other conspirators rushed out, fell upon Václav, and stabbed him until he lay quite dead. His friends and attendants, except a few who saved themselves by flight, suffered the same fate. When Dogmar heard of the death of Václav, she hurried to the place, fell upon his body and wept bitterly. Being warned that her life, too, was in danger, she fled from the country, seeking refuge with one of her daughters in Croatia.
The body of Václav lay a long time upon the church steps, no one daring to remove it. At length a priest ventured to take it up and lay it out in his own house, and, not being molested, he finally took it to church. The wicked deed being done, Boleslav thought it would be good policy to repent, and therefore he ordered the body to be buried with great honors. Three years later it was taken to Prague, and buried in the St. Vitus Cathedral, where it rests at the present time.
In those days, whenever a crime was committed, the guilty person repented, did penance by devoting a part of the ill-gotten wealth to build a church or endow a monastery, and then lived on to enjoy the rest with a clear conscience. Boleslav, in addition to other penance, devoted his first-born son to a monastic life.
As might be expected, Václav’s pious life and cruel death won him the reputation of being a saint. The old chroniclers say: “Václav built churches, richly endowing them, so that the service of God went on
