The Excursions of Mr. Broucek to the 15th Century
During the summer evening, Mr. Broucek got into an argument in Mr. Würfl's pub "Na vikárce" in Hradcany, in which Mr. Broucek proved, according to a reading of knightly novels, that there are extensive underground corridors under Prague. He drank until he was finally left alone in the pub. As he left, he went out into the hall, but then he felt himself rushing somewhere. When he landed, he knew he was in a kind of long underground passage. After a long journey down the hall, he comes up the steps to the cellar, where there is a huge amount of treasures. According to the image of Wenceslas IV. he considers it to be the jewel box of King Wenceslas IV. The secret pen in the picture lets go and Mr. Broucek gets out of the jewel box on the street; but somehow, even though he is a Praguer, he doesn't know it. He does not know that he is in Prague in the 15th century. It is dark everywhere on the streets and the houses have strange dormers and bay windows. Mr. Broucek meets a man with a lantern, but he speaks a special Czech and claims that it is the year 1420.
The German armies of the Holy Roman Empire have the Czech people under siege, and Broucek, because of his poor Czech grammar laden with German expressions, is under suspicion and accused of being a German spy. However he manages to persuade
the Czech rebels that he is one of them.
A battle for the future of the Czech nation is coming and the rebels ask Broucek to help to defend Prague, but as the battle commences, he flees.
The rebels win the battle and are celebrating in the Old Town Square. They find Broucek and accuse him of treason, and sentence him to death by burning in a beer barrel.
The story returns to 1888, and we find ourselves once more outside the Vikárka Inn, where it all began. Mr. Würfl, the landlord, hears a groan in the cellar. It is Mr. Broucek stuffed in a beer barrel, delighted to be alive and back home. True to form, he recounts how he alone liberated the city of Prague.
The Excursion of Mr Broucek to the Moon
Prague 1888.
The beer-soaked Matej Broucek tries to find his way home after an evening’s drinking at the Vikarka Inn. He stumbles across Malinka, who is so upset by the two-timing behaviour of her lover Mazal (Broucek’s tenant), that she threatens to kill herself. In an attempt to calm her down Broucek says he’ll marry her, but then retracts the offer and instead dreams of escaping to a less stressful life on the moon.
The moon turns out to be the worst possible choice for the robustly philistine Broucek: it has become home to the arty intellectuals he so despises, and he finds himself in the company of the avant-garde lunar artist Blankytny (a lunar parallel to Mazal). He describes his platonic passion for a lunar maiden, Etherea.
Etherea arrives with her militant sisterhood to sing an ode to a healthy lifestyle. Unlikely as it seems, she falls for the dissipated Mr Broucek, and flies away with him on Pegasus, leaving Blankytny distressed.
Etherea arrives with Broucek at the Temple of the Lunar Arts. Initially, his appearance causes terror, but he is soon accepted as the newest craze, and is shown the very latest in lunar art. A meal of sniffing flowers does nothing to improve his mood, and when he is attacked for eating sausages, he flees, leaving the aesthetes – complete with a Child Prodigy – singing hymns to art.
In Prague, Mazal and Málinka return home as dawn is breaking. A kitchen boy tells them that Broucek has been found in a drunken stupor, but their thoughts are elsewhere as they sing of their tender love for each other.