- Title: Drought uncovers once-dreaded Czech 'Hunger Stones' in Elbe river
- Date: 5th September 2018
- Summary: DECIN, CZECH REPUBLIC (AUGUST 29, 2018) (REUTERS) HUNGER STONE AT LABE (ELBE) RIVER NEAR DECIN CASTLE DECIN CASTLE ABOVE RIVER WITH BRIDGE PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND HUNGER STONE INSCRIPTION ON HUNGER STONE FROM 1921 (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) HYDROLOGIST MANAGING RIVER, JIRI MACH, SAYING: "At the moment, the water level is 155 centimetres which is suitable only for small private boats. Trade and traffic navigation has to be unfortunately cancelled." STONES IN RIVERBED SHOWING LOW WATER LEVEL HUNGER STONE WITH MOTTO IN GERMAN (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) DECIN MUSEUM DIRECTOR, VLASTIMIL PAZOUREK, SAYING: "The first recording on this stone is from the 15th century and it probably marked some extreme situation. There were floods recorded for example from that time, so it is similar. With time, when drought came again, more people left messages." SIGN ON HUNGER STONE FROM 1943 SIGN FROM 1911 (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) DECIN MUSEUM DIRECTOR, VLASTIMIL PAZOUREK, SAYING: "The sign on this stone from 1904 is most famous. The local entrepreneur Franz Meyer opened a beer pub where he was selling postcards. Collectors loved him ever since for that. And he had the German motto: 'If you see me, weep’ carved here.†INSCRIPTION READING (German): "IF YOU SEE ME, WEEP." (SOUNDBITE) (German) TOURIST FROM GERMANY, SIGFRIED MIEDE, SAYING: "If you see me, weep. Because there is little water, little rainfall. And if that was the case, people used to say: famine is about to come. That's how it was. Today, it is different - food supplies come from everywhere, and there is no hunger anymore." STONE WITH GERMAN INSCRIPTION CHILDREN CLIMBING FROM CANOES ONTO HUNGER STONE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN ON HUNGER STONE (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) TOURIST, LUKAS SVAROVSKY, SAYING: "We have been coming here for years and we have never seen the Hunger Stone. Finally we can see it, but I just don't know if that is good or bad news." CHILDREN ON STONE CHILDREN GOING BACK TO THE CANOES HUNGRY STONE BOATS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 19th September 2018 11:32
- Keywords: weather drought river Elbe Labe hunger stones
- Location: DECIN, CZECH REPUBLIC
- City: DECIN, CZECH REPUBLIC
- Country: Czech Republic
- Topics: Environment,Weather
- Reuters ID: LVA0018WCOKZD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ancient ominous warnings carved on usually submerged boulders along the Elbe River had for centuries driven fear into the hearts of Czechs, but their reappearance during this year's drought is just a reminder of how tough people had it.
The so-called Hunger Stones can only be seen above the water's surface during droughts, and used to presage bad harvests, interrupted river navigation and consequent famine.
In Decin, just over 100 km (60 miles) north of Prague and not far from the German border, a boulder that is central Europe's oldest hydrological marker is fully exposed after the water level in the river dropped to 115 cm.
The rock, sitting below Tyrs Bridge, is marked in Czech and German, with one message from pub owner Franz Mayer in 1904 saying: "If you see me, weep."
The oldest visible marking on the stone is from 1616.
The director of a museum in the town says with time more people added messages to the stones. As time went by, the doom and gloom gave way to a more humorous and entrepreneurial approach.
The 1904 message was answered in a poem in the 1930s by the owner of a local pump factory with: "Don't cry, girl, don't fret. When it's dry, just spray your field wet."
The Decin boulder emerges when the water drops below 160 cm, and the current low level is preventing commercial and passenger boats from sailing. Most goods nowadays are brought by truck or rail, however. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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