The judge, moved by his despair and the gravity of his vow, released them. The beggar and the servant girl left prison, but the weight of the vow hung over them like Damocles’ sword. They were to live separately, knowing that their love was forbidden. But love was stronger than fear, stronger than the threat of death. The heart cannot be commanded. And so, barely a few weeks passed before they began secretly meeting again in the same side alley, under the same shadows that once protected their secret.
However, the envious companions did not sleep. They watched him with the vigilance of predators. And one evening, as the beggar crept again towards his beloved, he was caught. Their whispers turned into triumphant shouts. There was no doubt. The beggar had broken his vow.
And so, according to his own word, according to the vow he made before the judge, he was executed. His head fell under the sharp axe, and with it, the last hope of the poor servant girl. Malostranské Square fell silent in oppressive sorrow, though few knew the true depth of this tragedy.
Only after his death, when his humble place in the Old Hospital was being cleaned, did workers find an old wooden box beneath the floorboards. And in it, to everyone’s astonishment, lay a treasure – a box full of silver coins that the beggar had accumulated over the years, of which no one knew. It was wealth that could have saved both lovers, that could have broken the chains of poverty and given them a life together. But it remained hidden, undiscovered, until the end. And so it happened that the love that was meant to be their salvation became their ruin, and the treasure that could have redeemed them remained a silent witness to their fateful tragedy.