Monday, August 20, 2018

Tiny tales from a tiny country (Following folktales around the world 79. - Liechtenstein)

Today I continue the blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts here, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Mivel Liechtensteinből nem sikerült mesegyűjteményt szereznem, megelégszem azzal az öt népmesével, amik az ország hivatalos turisztikai weboldalán szerepelnek. 

The three sisters
Instead of going to church on the feast of Ascension, three sisters go go gather berries in the mountains. On the way home, they refuse to give any to an old woman - who turns out to be the Virgin herself, and turns the three ungrateful girls to stone.

The hound of Santamerta
A ghost tells a young man that at midnight a chest of gold will appear in the chapel of Santamerta, with a hound on top. If he can move the hound, he can get the gold. The man and  his two friends try their best, but the hound doesn't budge, and the gold eventually disappears. The ghost reveals that the next chance will come along in 1000 years.

The white horse of Lochgass
A notorious horse thief finds a beautiful white horse outside the church on Christmas Eve. He steals it, and tries to ride it home, but the horse rides with him all over the place, and eventually throws him and breaks his neck. The horse turns out to be the Devil, who haunts that road in Vaduz until people erect a cross to keep him away.

Golden Boos
Apparently the most well known tale in Liechtenstein. It's about a stout woman who carries a chest on hr back wherever she goes, and when she stays somewhere, she puts it in a separate room. Then, a small man climbs out of the chest, and robs the place. The end.

The Guschg herdsmen's doll
Herdsmen spend the summer up in the mountains, and they entertain themselves  with making a life-size doll out of rags. They do "many things" to the doll, until in the autumn she suddenly comes to life, and declares that one herdsman has to stay with her. The others go home, and when they look back up, they can see that the doll has skinned the herdsman, and put his skin on the roof of the cottage to dry. She is sitting next to it, laughing.
I did not expect this, Liechtenstein.

Where to next? 
Switzerland!

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