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

In Upper 1lcsso there is u chain o
mountains called the Vogelsberg, which is
ut once notable for the abundance of pop
ular legends, remembered to this day 10y
tho peas;sntry, ard for tho character Of
tho legends themselves. Rarely is more
popular mythology, dating Immediately
from heathenism, to be found than in Il
small collection Of lIessan folklore made
by Herr Bindewald, in antiquary habitua.
ted. from childhood upwards, to tho w.
gclsberg and its ne,ghborhood, and rejoic.
ing in the fact that liz this, his fayorlte
district, people still SAY and sing" Ono
great feature in the few legends which VIC
give here, is their purely non-historic;.l
character. When,as in the legends of the
kniffhauser, We find !. vcritablc emperor
sleeping for ages in somc subterranean
chamber, we may be perfectly sure that
the historical element is an intruder, and
that neither Frederic nor OtI,on are cn,i-
tied to the strange dignitics that have boon
thrust upon them. History does not
breed myth, but myth very frequently
condonsos into sort Of history, or nc.
commodities itself thereto; that is to saw,
people often have 4 kuack of slipping !.
noted historical parsonage into !. place Of
some forgotten deity, who himself WAS
only tho incarnation Of some natural phe-
nomcnon. A notorious illustration of the
doctrine here propounded IS to be found in
tho story Of William Tell, which even
row is publicly accepted ;ls Il record Of
facts by nearly all who have not especial
ly studied the subject. Tell. if he ever
existed, which is extremely doubtful, must
haze hourishcd in the beginning Of the
fourteenth century, during the reign Of
Albert the first, Of Austria; but in the
Edd! Of Samundus, which is written in
the eleventh century, and contains the
tradition OF ages proceeding, We find our
patriotic friend in the shape of q: Iersc
prince, who lived nobody knows where.
and performed tho apple feat exactly in
the Swiss fashion. Nay, toward the end
OF the fifteenth century, Tell turns up
again witt, the new name, llcm,ning Wul
Ten Won Wayclshet, IL leader of the 80.
called Ditmarschen, who lived near tho
mouth Of the Eibe, md vall'ntly defended
their privileges against Christian, Kin. of
Denmark. In this revived drama, while
Wulien Won Wavelsilet represented Tell
the part Of ';cssler was Sustained by King
Christian, but the main incident remained
unaltercd. Tho TACT is, the story belonged
t" tho old Morse mythology, and ~ it
rolled down tho course Of time, i. licked
up Tells and Wulfen in its passage. In
the production of tho following legends.
the knowledge Of which is derived from,
oral tradition, 10 such operation took
place. The Wild liuntsman is tho god
Odin, whom the early Christians converted
into il sort Of tiend tho White I.4dv is
the being, really bcncticent, who, in Cor.
nan mythology, is called sometime ilil,la
or Il0llc, sometimes Perahta or Bertha.
The Wild Iluntsmnn, whose appearance
with pack of skeleton hounds, il regard
Cd as az evil omen by the bullet founders
in Der FrcischutH, is il parsonage very
familiar to tho peasants Of Hcsse. In the
ol!cn time it was believed he made Il
point, towards the end Of every autunn,o
dcsccnding,aitcr vcspcrs,from the Vogels
berg into tho valley below, his path being
always denoted by fiery streak along the
sky and his passage being accompanied
ny II mingled sound Of creaking wheels
cracked whips, and changing trumpots
Win which was mingled !. combination OF
the different voices proper to every vnrict,
OF man, bird, and hc,4st. The nciy hborin.
forests 1T the same time became 20 thor
onghly lighted tina. every leaf was visible
Like ordinary mort.ls, the Wild hunts
ma" was, however, subject to accidents
Once, as te Was riding along with NOR,
than usual speed, one Of tho wheels ca,ne
Oft his chariot, and foil to the ground will
IL IL isc like Il clap of thunder
Tho Wild Iluntsmcn is loss frcquontl,
seen than hoard. Ono night a peasant
coming to IL cross.road on his WY home
heard the ncighing of IL horse, sometimes
behind, sometimes before him. Present.,
no heard likewise tho noise Of an 40
preaching carriage, but though there WI.
Il moonlight, nothing was t" DO seen. A
last tho whole invisible train rushed pls,
hi" with such II "closo shavo," that fo
! the moment lie f.ncied himself run over
Fortunately no had received no injury, be
You'd u terrible fright, and whom, on reach