Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Mirror of the Earth
Category: Sorcerer
The Myth
The Earth Mirror is a magical object belonging to a wicked sorcerer in the Bohemian Forest. Through it, he can see distant events and use his magic to interfere with people far beyond his reach.
One day, a farmer was driving his empty wagon home between Lichten and Sehenmichnit when his oxen suddenly became unable to move it. No matter how hard he struck them with his whip, the animals struggled in vain, and the wagon remained frozen in place.
A little man emerged from the woods and told the farmer to strike the wagon’s rear wheel with his hoe. The farmer followed the advice, and the wagon immediately began rolling again.
When he returned home, the farmer discovered that his neighbour, a notorious sorcerer, was lying in bed with a chopped-off foot. The sorcerer owned a magical mirror through which he could observe distant events. When he saw the farmer and his wagon in the mirror, he had placed his own foot against the wheel’s reflection, magically stopping the real wagon as well.
By striking the wheel with his hoe, the farmer had unknowingly struck the sorcerer’s foot through the connection between the mirror and the real world.
The tale presents the Earth Mirror as a dangerous magical object that allows a sorcerer to reach across great distances, but also exposes him to harm through the very magic he uses against others.
Sources
“Der Erdspiegel” (The Earth Mirror). SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/erdspiegel.html