Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-06-26
WILD hUNTSMEN AND WHITE
LADIES.


mountains called the vogelsberg, which is
ut once notable for the abundance of pop
ular legends, remembered to this day 6y
the peasantry, ard for the character Of
the legends themselves. Rarely is more
popular mythology, dating Immediately
from heathenism, to be found than in !.
small collection Of Hessian folklore made
by Herr Bindewald, an antiquary habitua-
ted, from childhood upwards, to tho w.
gelsberg and its ne'ghborhood, and rejoic-
ing in the TACT that III this, his fayor,te
district, people still say and sing" Ono
great feature in the few legends which we
give here, is their purely non-historic:.l
character. When,as in the legends of the
kniffhauser, We find Il vcritablc emperor
sleeping for ages in some subterranean
chamber, we may be perfectly sure that
the historical element is an intruder, and
that neither Frederic nor Othon are emit
tied to the strange dignitics that have boon
thrust upon them. History does not
breed myth, but myth very frequently
condenses into o sort Of history, Or nc.
commodities itself thereto; that is to say,
people often have knack of slipping u
noted historical parsonage into Il place Of
some forgotten deity, who himself was
only the incarnation Of some natural ple-
nomenon. A notorious illustration of the
doctrine here propounded Is to be found in
tho story of William Tell, which even
row is publicly accepted ~ u record Of
facts by nearly all who have not especial
iy studied tho subject. Tell. if he ever
existed, which is extremely doubtful, must
have tiourished in the beginning Of the
fourteenth century, during the reign Of
Albert the first, Of Austria; but in the
Edda Of S@mundus, which is written in
the eleventh century, and contains the
tradition Of ages proceeding, we find our
patriotic friend in the shape of u Ntrse
prince, who lived nobody knows where.
and performed the apple feat exactly in
the Swiss fashion. Nay, toward the end
of tho fifteenth century, Tell turns up
again with the new name, llcmmibg Wul
ten Won Wavelstlet, Il leader of the 50.
called Ditmarschen, who lived near tho
mouth Of the Elbe, and v;.llantly defended
their privileges against Christian, King Of
Denmark. In this revived drama, while
Wulien Won Wnvelstlot represented Tell.
the part of Gessler was sustained by King
Christian, but the main incident remained
unaltered. The fact is, the story belonged
I" the old Morse mythology, anil as it
rolled down tho course Of time, i, licked
up Tells and Wulfen in its pass;l = q. In
the production Of the following legends,
the knowledge Of which is derived from,
oral tradition, no such operation took
| place.. The Wild Huntsman is tho god
Odin, whom the early Christians converted
into'a sort Of tiend; the White Lady is
the being, really bene6cent, who, in Cor
man mythology, is called sometime ilildu
or llollc, sometimes Perabts or Bertha.
The Wild IIuntsman, whose appearance
with pack Of skeleton hounds, is regard
cd ~ u evil omen by tho: bullet founders
in Der Frcisch"t], is parsonage very
familiar to tho peasants Of Hesse. In thu
olden timo it was believed he made ,
point, towards the end Of every autumn,o
dcsccnding,attcr vespcrs, from the Vogeis
berg into tho valley below, his path being
always denoted by 4 fiery stroak along TIN
SKY, and his passage being accompanies
by IL mingled sound Of creaking wheels
cracked whips, and changing trumpots
win which was mingled IL combination 0
INC inherent voices proper to every variet,
OF man. bird, and beast. The nei ghborin,
forests ut the sumo time became 80 thor
oughly lighted tina: every leaf was visible
Like ordinary mortals, the Wild Hunts
man was, however, subject to accidents
Once, as ho WAS riding along with NOR
than usual speed, one Of the wheels Gun,
of his chariot, and fell to the ground wit
IL NJ Use like il clap of thunder
The Wild lluntsmon is less ircquentl
!, seen than heard. One night pc:.san
coming to u cross. road on his way HON,
. heard the ncighing Of IL horse, sometime
behind, sometimes before him. Present.
he heard likewise the noise Of in ar
preaching carriage, but though there W;
; u moonligh t, nothing was to Le seen. A
. last the whole invisible train rushed p,.s
him with such "close shavo," that f,
the moment he f.ncied himself run owe,
Fortunately he had received no injnry, be
You'd u terrible fright, and when, on reaoI