King Abel's Hunt

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Geographic Coordinates: 54° 30' 48.46" N, 9° 34' 8.69" E 54° 30' 48.26" N, 9° 31' 17.17" E 54° 30' 41.76" N, 9° 32' 29.40" E 54° 28' 47.00" N, 9° 29' 52.00" E

(After the Chron. Slesvic, as per Menken. Script. T. III. p. 597; Thiele, Danmark’s Folkef. Th. Part I p. 124., and at Müllenhoff, p. 362.)

After King Abel, the murderer of his brother Erich, was slain by the Frisians at the Milderdamm, his corpse was brought to Schleswig and interred in the St. Peter Cathedral. But the very next night, such a racket with loud cracking and rasping arose in the church that the startled canons were unable to sing and recite their psalms and their usual nightly prayers. Furthermore, a horrible apparition appeared and disturbed and frightened them. As this repeated itself several times in this manner and was reported to the widowed queen, it was decided to remove the king’s corpse, take it out of the church, and bury it at another location.

After a pole had been driven through the coffin, the corpse was now sunk into a swamp within the Pölerwald forest near Gottorp. This location is shown by the locals to the current day, and is called the “Königsgrab” (“King’s Grave”). The old ones assure that the apparitions and ghosts and the ruckus in the church stopped after that day. But a horrible racket can be heard at the place where the king is now buried since that time, both in earlier years and even in our days. Everyone knows this, for people who walked nearby at night were frequently startled by this haunting and became afraid for their lives. Credible men reported and assured that the voice of the huntsman and the blowing of his horn were heard frequently. This was so clearly audible that it could be claimed that someone was hunting there, and this has often been observed by the guards in Gottorp at night. But the people also commonly claim that Abel has shown himself and been seen even in our days. He is as black as coal in his face and on his entire body. He rides on a small horse, and is accompanied by three hunting dogs, which can often be seen glowing in a fiery form.

Once, a farmer from Schuby drove home from the market. It is possible that he had drunk a bit too much. At this occasion, he heard the shouts of “Hooray!”, the cracking of whips, and the snorting and puffing of the fiery steeds and hounds. He called out to King Abel, and after much pleading the latter allowed him to participate in the hunt. Now he had to go forth with the wild troop. He was given powder and musket, and he shot hares aplenty. But when the hunt ended in the morning, he asked King Abel to give him a piece of venison which he could take home. The latter then threw a heavy load on his wagon, and said: “Here is a roast for you. Far too good for a farmer!” When the farmer arrived home, his wife asked him where he had been for such a long time. Then he told how he had been on the hunt with King Abel, and that he had brought a few hares or the hind of a stag. Then his wife looked, but what did she find? It was not the hind of a stag, but the hind of a rotting horse.

The statue of King Abel, surrounded by dogs, can still be seen in the palace gardens at Schleswig to this day.

Many years ago, there was still a lot of forest near the village of Dannewerk and the farmers used to let their cattle graze in it. Once, a maid was sent there by her master to look out for the cows. When she stepped between the trees, she suddenly heard a loud rumbling in the air. Then King Abel and his hunt approached. He had ten dogs with him. They were all completely white, and had fiery tongues hanging from their throats. Then the young woman thought: “Oh, I am all alone here. What should I do?” But she was wearing a white apron, which she loosened and wrapped around her head. Then she sat down beneath a large tree and wept.

König Abel approached her with great ruckus, but then he hunted past her. However, one of the dogs came closer to her, jumped on her lap, and calmly laid down on it. After the spectacle was over, she took the dog with her to Dannewerk. To this day, there are still dogs of its breed. But King Abel only has nine dogs since that time.

Source: Grässe - Sagenbuch des preussischen Staats - Zweiter Band, p. 166ff