St. Mary's Trumpet Call

[1]: 97 The earliest written version of this legend is from the prologue to American Eric P. Kelly’s 1928 children's book The Trumpeter of Krakow.

Kelly, who was teaching at the Jagiellonian University on a scholar exchange in 1925–26, admitted that he did not speak the Polish language very well when he wrote the story, and had relied on French-speaking friends to translate.

Part of the current legend may come from a more recent historic incident when a trumpeter died of natural causes while on duty at midnight on 7 July 1901.

A 1926 tourist guide vaguely states that the death of a trumpeter was the reason for the premature ending of the anthem, but does not mention the Tartar siege or arrows.

It is possible that Kelly was simply the first to write down the full version of an existing Cracovian legend that had escaped earlier collectors.

The second appears in a fiction sequel by Ksawery Pruszyński (who was a student at the Jagiellonian University while Kelly was teaching and was later Estreicher's assistant) entitled The Trumpeter of Samarkand which also ties into the Lajkonik legend.

Another recent tradition has it that the four directions in which the tune is played are in honour of the King (southwards towards Wawel Castle); the Mayor or Bishop towards City Hall or Bishop's Palace on Kanonicza Street, the citizens towards Main Market Square, and the peasants and visitors (towards the fields outside Kraków and the Barbican of Krakow).

The Hejnał Mariacki was replaced twice by the mourning song Łzy Matki (English: "The Tears of the Mother").

[2] Originally played by the town guard, since the 19th century the Hejnał has been performed by active members of the fire brigade, who also use the church tower as a lookout post.