Although Rilke was born and grew up in Prague, and although he was in immediate contact with the Czech language for twenty years, he never acquired enough Czech to be able to do without an interpreter. One of his interpreters was Valerie David, niece of the Czech poet Julius Zeyer, with whom Rilke was in contact from the beginning of 1893 until the end of 1895, and thus at the time when his first volume of poetry, Leben und Lieder came out, and his second volume Larenopfer was in preparation. Valerie David, a young lady of noble birth from Rhonfeld, is, in fact, the “Vally von R.” to whom Rilke's first book is dedicated. Rilke's frequent correspondence with Valerie David gives several direct and indirect testimonies concerning Rilke's attitude to the Czech language. Among these an especially eloquent witness is to be seen in Rilke's comments on a resolution from the Town Council in Prague IX, answering in Czech, a request by Rilke, written in German, for admission to the Public Gardens on 2izka Hill.