In 1336, King Louis of Bavaria sentenced the nobleman Diez von SchauMburg and four of his associates to death for plotting an assassination attempt on the king. The troublemakers, according to the custom of that time, were to have their heads cut off.
Before his execution, Louis of Bavaria asked Dies von Schaunburg what his last wish would be. It turned out to be somewhat unusual. The noble duke asked the king to pardon the sentenced landsknechts in case he ran past them after … his own execution. Moreover, von Schaunburg clarified that the condemned, including himself, will stand in a row at a distance of eight steps from each other, while only those who, having lost their head, can run past, are subject to pardon. The monarch laughed loudly after hearing this nonsense, but promised to fulfill the wish of the doomed.
The rioters were lined up a few steps apart. Schaunburg was the first to kneel, head bowed under the ax. The executioner's ax fell. The head of von Schaunburg rolled off his shoulders, and the body … jumped to its feet in front of the numb with horror of the king and the courtiers present at the execution, irrigating the ground with a stream of blood furiously gushing from the stump of the neck, rushed swiftly past the comrades-in-arms. Having passed the latter, that is, having taken more than FORTY steps, it stopped, jerked convulsively and fell to the ground. The dumbfounded king immediately concluded that it was not without the devil, but did not dare to break his word: the remaining nobles were pardoned.