Luhačovice is today a beautiful spa town, but it wasn’t always so. Everywhere there were only dense forests and fields.
Legend tells that in those fields an old shepherd grazed his sheep and had a very old dog. Once, when they were again grazing their little flock and the dog lay at the shepherd’s feet, it seemed that someone nearby in the thicket was sighing. With difficulty, both got to their feet and went to see what was happening there.
On the ground lay an old, frail man. The shepherd and his dog no longer had enough strength to get him to the hut, so the shepherd ordered the dog to lie beside him and warm him with his body, and made a fire nearby so the old man would be as warm as possible. After a while, he began to come back to life. Then they gave him sheep’s milk to drink, and the old man told them that in return for saving him, he would show them a spring that was healing – it had saved his life many times or helped with pain. But he said he was already old and didn’t want to live any longer, though there would come a time when people from far and wide would seek this water. When both the shepherd and the dog drank from it, they both felt reborn.
The legend of the spring soon spread throughout the world, people came here seeking health, and so the old man’s prophecy truly came to pass and Luhačovice became a famous spa.
