Gold ducat K. J. Erben,Kytice - Lady midday stand

The motif of the fifth gold ducat from the seven-part cycle inspired by Karel Jaromír Erben's Bouquet is a poem called Polednice.

We associate fear primarily with the unknown lurking in the darkness of the night. However, Erben's ballad, influenced by Slavic legends, proves that a terrifying story can take place in broad daylight. "Like midnight, midday, according to folklore, has its evil beings, who, especially from the eleventh hour to the twelfth, exercise their sinister power. The latter are called noonday witch - polednice or poludnice, or just wild women in general. For this reason it is not advisable to walk in the woods at noon, for a wild woman would send a delusion upon a man," wrote the poet in the preface to the ballad, which deals with a mother who, in anger, calls an evil being upon her child. She eventually protects him from the midwife, but out of fear she presses him so hard against her that she suffocates him. In the cruel spirit of Erben's philosophy, she is thus punished for having betrayed her mother's love.

The author of the obverse side of the ducat is Mgr. Petr Horák, who was inspired by the depressing atmosphere of Erben's collection when creating the relief. In the doorway there is an inhuman noonday witch reaching out her hand to a terrified mother with a child in her arms. The hands of the clock and the chiming bell reveal that it is midday. The reverse side, processed by MgA. Jan Hásko and which is common to the whole series, then presents a rich puget in which a human skull is hidden alongside various flowers.

The ducat is set in a special packaging that includes a complete poem. The collection of seven ducats can then be stored in a collector's box.