A long time ago, when the streets of Prague were just forming into their current shape and every stone told its story, a poor carpenter’s apprentice traveled the world. He was a young man from Prague, who had left his home with the hope of gaining better craftsmanship experience and with the goal of reaching distant Kladsko, where it was said that work was plentiful and masters generous. However, the journey was long and harsh, and his purse grew thinner each day until almost nothing was left in it.

He had been traveling for many days, under the scorching sun and drenching rain, with a parched throat and a stomach rumbling with emptiness. His tattered clothes bore witness to the hardships of the journey, and his eyes reflected weariness and slowly creeping despair. One late afternoon, as the sun was already setting below the horizon and long shadows stretched across fields and villages, he arrived at the picturesque town of Rychnov nad Kněžnou. He had very little strength left, and his legs could barely carry him. He decided to spend the night there, even if he had to sleep under the open sky.

He found a secluded, quiet spot by an old, bushy linden tree, whose branches provided pleasant shade and shelter. He had the last bit of bacon with him, a small piece he had saved for the worst times. He knew it was his last meal for a long time. He carefully unwrapped the bacon from a piece of cloth to savor it, but at that moment, something happened that at first seemed like another cruel blow of fate. From beneath the roots of the linden tree, a small, grey mouse scurried out, deftly snatched the bacon from his hand, and with its prize, disappeared under a large, moss-covered stone that lay at the foot of the old tree.

The apprentice, initially full of anger and despair at the loss of his last morsel, decided to pursue the mouse. After all, it was his last piece, and hunger was stronger than fatigue. He approached the stone and, with effort, rolled it away to get to the hole where the mouse had disappeared. But what was his surprise! Instead of a mouse’s nest or bacon, something metallic gleamed beneath the stone and the tangle of the old linden tree’s roots. It was an old, iron chest, rusted and firmly locked, as if it had lain there for centuries.

With a pounding heart and trembling hands, the apprentice set about extracting the chest. Although it was heavy, the power of hope gave him unprecedented strength. When he finally brought it to light and, with all his might, managed to break the old lock, a sight that took his breath away appeared before him. The chest was full of golden ducats, old and new, shining like the sun. There were so many that he couldn’t even count them. What began as the theft of his last meal turned into an incredible gift of fate.

The apprentice, now richer than ever before, decided to return home to Prague. The journey back was no longer as arduous, although the burden of secret wealth was heavy in itself. Every step led him home, to the vision of a new life. When he finally saw the towers of Prague Castle and the silhouette of Charles Bridge, he felt a deep relief and gratitude.

He arrived in Prague a changed man. He was no longer a poor apprentice, but a man of means. His first steps led him to Perštýn, a bustling and respected part of the city where trade mingled with craftsmanship. Here, down on Perštýn, not far from the then Husova třída, he spotted a house that he fell in love with. It was a house with a sturdy roof and strong walls, promising safety and refuge. With the found ducats, he bought the house and settled in it.

Thanks to his unexpected wealth and the diligence he had carried from his apprentice years, he soon became a respected citizen of Prague. He married, started a family, and his descendants, who followed in his footsteps, became known as the Betenglů family of Neuenperk, an armigerous Prague family that gained respect and standing. And so it happened that the house bought by the poor carpenter’s apprentice was named U Betenglů. It stood there for many generations, a silent witness to the fateful moment that changed one man’s life and founded a renowned lineage.

Although the original house U Betenglů gave way to new times at the end of the nineteenth century and was demolished to make way for a new, more modern house, the story of the poor apprentice who, thanks to a small mouse and a piece of bacon, found a treasure and founded one of Prague’s families, is still told today. It is a reminder that even the smallest event, seemingly unpleasant, can hold the key to unexpected happiness and a fateful turn, and that Prague remembers not only its kings and battles, but also ordinary people and their miraculous stories.