The Natternkrone

A natter in the house must not be disturbed or killed. It brings happiness and blessings. That's what people were telling each other.

A farmer knew that. When he went to work, he put a bowl of milk on the table for his two children. But when they ate it, the house snakes sneaked in and ate with them. Concerned about whether the children had enough to eat, he listened to them while eating and saw a natter wearing a crown on her head and eating with her.

He spoke to his children and advised them to put a white cloth on the table when the natter appeared. They followed his advice and went out. Then there was a golden crown on the cloth. The farmer took them and put them in the pile of grain. From then on, his grain became not less, but more and more.

Waldau, FOR 203 571

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The Klagmutter

"Not far from Amberg, a butcher drowned while bathing in a very deep place in the river. Since then, at midnight, a spinning golden wheel can be seen in the water, and on the shore the klag mother sits as a white sheep and complains about the butcher. The little old female, dressed in black, often with three-pointed hats and cobwebs in front of her face, does nothing to anyone, does not go into the houses, but mourns them. Most of the time, the Klagweibl appears in the form of an animal, e.B. a black, howling dog, a whimpering goose at the corners of the future death house, as a big grey cat with a wrapped head, weeping like a human, or as a sheep with three legs crying like a small child. With the lament tones, however, the lamentnut transforms into a rolling "Wiglwerg" (unspun hemp bundle). In doing so, it helps to roll away the grief, to dissolve it. SSO I, p. 267f.

A consolation comes from these thoughts that we are not alone on our last journey, and the robin on the fresh burial mound tells us: it is all good. We give you wings, paws, fins, maybe even the elephant trunk and guide you into the light.

Schwanenjungfrauen

A young handsome country man (soldier) had got lost in the forest. For days he wandered through the wilderness hungry and thirsty. 

He found a magnificent castle, stepped through the open door and discovered a laid table in a hall. . He understood this as an invitation, and he ate and drank until he was full.

Suddenly an old grey male came in and kindly invited him to stay here, that he should be fine.

The young man gladly accepted the offer. When asked about the whimsical empty house, the male said: "You live here in an enchanted castle that once belonged to me. We have all been enchanted and transformed into animals."

But over time, the boy became too bored. He wanted to move on, but the male held him back. It led him to an open window.

"Look," it said, "three swans come to this lake every day at noon to bathe, they are covered with a veil. When they go into the water, they put the veils on the dam. If you manage to steal this veil, then the swan that owns the veil becomes a beautiful virgin. She will implore you to return the veil to her. But you must not give in to it and must strive to be back in the castle for one o'clock, otherwise it has happened to you. The Virgin will follow you and stay with you as long as you keep the veil before her."

The next day, he hid at the dam. Three swans came in. They put off the veils and became beautiful young women. While playing in the water, the boy stole one of the veils and rushed back to the castle. 

One of the girls could not find her green veil after bathing. She rushed to the castle, found the thief and implored him to give her the fine cloth again. He didn't give it to her, but locked it in a closet.

But because she stood so naked and unhappy before him, he gifted her with the most precious garments that an invisible hand had brought.

The Swan Woman remained in the castle and became his wife. Happiness seemed complete when she gave birth to a beautiful boy, but the longing for the water had not given way to her, especially when she heard her sisters, the swans, flying by. All their desperate pleas went unheeded.

One day he had forgotten to close the cupboard in which her veil lay. The young mother took him, became a swan again and flew away with her sisters.

Every day around the twelfth hour he went to the window and saw the three swans flying to the water. But the animal with the green veil flew to the window behind which his child was lying. then it removed itself again.

The man couldn't keep it in the castle and just wanted to leave with the child. But then the grey male appeared again and asked him not to leave. "The hope for the salvation of your family rests on you. Leave the child here in good hands and set off. The stick here will show you the way. And these shoes will carry you over rocks and water, every step a mile, until you reach the castle where your enchanted relatives must endure. If you step in without knocking, go through the many rooms with the most beautiful and precious items, but don't touch them, then you'll get into a small room with a key hanging. Take it and follow your stick wherever it takes you.  

The key will open a second castle for you, where you will find petrified people and terrible monsters. Do not be afraid or touch them. Continue past snakes and dragons, but they can do nothing to you. There you will find a rod. With it, you can turn all the dangerous beings back into their proper form, and the spell is solved."

 The young man found the other lock and opened it with his key. Although he was afraid of the greyish figures, he still walked through many magnificent rooms until he saw his wife sitting at a table in the last room.

The joy of reunion was enormous, then he went back with her the long way, and with his rod he redeemed all the wild animals that had scared him so much before, including his wife's parents. In the end, the whole court man stood alive in front of the two.

After a big feast, everyone went to the castle where the child lay. The family was united in happiness and bliss, and now they could celebrate a real wedding.

Without a place. (Rebate 202 257a)

The Bird Griffin

The legendary bird Greif settled on a high mountain in a rich country. Due to his insatiable hunger, the country gradually became naked and poor.

The king exclaimed, "Whoever kills the bird Greif, he gets my princess as his wife!" With poles and stones the peasants tried to kill the bird, they wanted to saw off the tree on which he was dwelling, but everything was in vain.

A clever tailor had an idea. He ignited dry rice tied to a long rod and smoked out the nest. The boys in it screamed, the old griffin came like a winged bear and wanted to extinguish the burning nest with the wings. Above that, however, he burned his own wings and fell miserably scorched to the ground.

The tailor quickly ran in and tweaked the bird's neck. Thus a tailor became king and from then on led instead of the scissors the scepter and the bird Greif in the coat of arms. Oo. ZA 202 131

The four sons of an aging peasant are arguing over the heritage of the farm, especially the beautiful meadow, but Mr. Wiesawittl is the real master. He puts an end to the sarcasm by giving each of the brothers a special task:

The first brother was to give a mosquito a drop of blood for Mrs. Blumenholde, the wife of Mr. Wiesawittl. Indignantly, he dismissed the request.

The second was supposed to make a moth sleep in his fur hat. She, too, was abruptly rejected.

Wiesawittl and Blumenholde

To the third son Wiesawittel sent a cricket with the request for a hemp grain. She, too, had to pull off unfinished business.

The fourth son was visited by Ackern in the field: the mosquito with its desire for a drop of blood. The young farmer was happy to be stabbed. With a greeting to Mr. Wiesawittl, he dismissed the mosquito.

Then came the moth with her request to be allowed to sleep in the fur hat. She rested comfortably under a three-legged chair. She returned with a greeting to Mr. Wiesawittl.

Also the cricket came and asked for a hemp grain. Under the roof of the house, she was allowed to take as many grains as she wanted. A greeting to Mr. Wiesawittl, and she was gone.

As the brothers rested under the lime tree at the end of the day, the earth opened, and out came Mr. Wiesawittl in all his form, as big as a butterflower with a golden tank, a silver helmet, with bulging feathers, and a large lance in his hand.

He said, "One of you four has done good to my enlightened wife Blumenholde and her servant. I am Mr Wiesawittl, ruler of this meadow. Take to the streets tomorrow, when the cuckoo has called for the second time. At the great stone at the trench you will find four eggs, which are yours, divide them among themselves."

With these words he disappeared back into the earth.

Curiously, the brothers went to the stone by the ditch the next morning, and there were indeed four eggs, one of gold, one of carfunkelstein, one of silver with sayings in an unknown language, and the fourth was nothing but a dirty, righteous chicken egg.

The three older brothers quickly reached for the valuable eggs, the youngest remained the chicken egg. The first cracked the golden egg on the stone, but it shredded to dust and a huge swarm of mosquitoes drove it north.

The second son opened the Carfunkel egg on the stone, it also shredded, and out of the dust a swarm of moths rose, driving the poor far, far to the west.  

The third also crushed his silver egg on the stone. Then it was divided into a thousand dusts, and from these there were just as many crickets, which always swirled around his legs and drove him far, far to the east.

 The youngest comforted his disappointment with the thought: At least my gift helps me against hunger. But when he broke it, the Lord Wiesawittl stood physically in the eggshell and said,

"So you are the one who has done good to the servants of my enlightened wife Blumenholde, I will reward you for this. Your father's inheritance is now yours, for your brothers are persecuted by my troops to such an extent that they will never return home, north, east, and west. But they will not fare badly.

But you shall become the progenitor of good, more bender people." He staggered his foot and disappeared into the ground with the words: "Well, I will protect you and the house and the yard."

Without a place. ZA 202 238