Vaclav (garden gnome)

Vaclav "Vatsy" was a garden gnome who "lived" in Saint-Clément with a kindly old woman named Madame d'Aulnoy. Unlike most other Saint-Clément gnomes, who were of German manufacture, Vaclav was made in Prague by shoddy Czech workmanship. He was not as intelligent as other gnomes, and had great difficulty learning to speak French. Fortunately, his neighbor Gretchen had learned Czech from her late husband Jiri, so they could talk together.

On 26 September 1996, Vaclav and Gretchen were two of seven gnomes "liberated" by the Garden Gnome Freedom Front. It was the night of the full moon, when garden gnomes awaken. Because the gnomes awakened in a Druid circle, they were able to remain sentient indefinitely.