In an Old Town street called "Martinská" there is a house named "At the little cross"; one time there used to be a cemetery right across from it but it has long since been dismantled. In the house "At the little cross" used to live an Old Town mayor, in those days called in Czech "purkmistr"; one day he returned home from the town hall, unbuckled the belt with the golden town seal, and placed it on the table. For a while he played with his little daughter, then he ate dinner and went calmly to bed.

His wife quietly tidied up and warmed up some water so that she could bathe her little daughter, but the child was already grumpy, cried and couldn't be comforted. Mother was afraid that the child's screams will awake the purkmistr from his sleep; she tried to soothe her but the little girl cried and screamed as if they were cutting her with a knife; in vain the purkmistr's wife brought wooden toys into the wooden washtub, in vain she quietly sang to her, in vain she told her fairy-tales and old stories.

With her wits at an end she spotted the leather belt with the purse on the table; she opened it, took out the golden seal and gave it to the child to play with. At once the little daughter quieted down; she played in the water with the golden shiny thing and only whimpered quietly. Her tired mother calmly bathed her, put her to bed, poured out the washtub contents out of the window, and because she could barely stand on her feet from fatigue, she put out the light and went to bed. She was almost asleep, but suddenly she recalled the golden seal: she got up, dressed herself quickly, and ran out onto the street, but even though she looked for it carefully, she didn't find it anymore: it wasn't in the ditch, neither on the stone pavement, and the purkmistr's wife was looking for it in vain long into the night. Again and again she searched under the window, again and again she fished in the ditch, but the seal disappeared. The unhappy woman returned home then; she lay on the bed, but in the expectation of the coming day she didn't close her eyes until the first break of down.

In the morning the purkmistr got up, dressed himself, took the belt from the table and went to town hall. His wife again ran out to the street and again she looked for the lost seal, but all in vain - the seal was gone.