The Three Blessed Ones on Ungarberg Mountain

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Geographic Coordinates: 47° 15' 28.80" N, 10° 47' 58.88" E

Between the market town of Imst and the toll station town of Nassereith, Nassereith the Bigerbach stream flows through the expanse of the Gurgl Valley, which should not be confused with the Gurgl valley that starts close to the foot of the Oetztal glacier. A hamlet named Strad (“Stra” in the local idiom) is found along the path, and about an hour above Strad there is a cellar-shaped vault within the Ungarberg or Ungarskopf mountain. This was once the entrance to the abode of three Blessed Maidens who lived beneath the mountain, and they were called the “Holy Ones” by the locals. These sometimes appeared outside the domed entrance to their grotto to in order to bleach linen — or they would hang up show-white gowns on rays of sunlight which shone through the dense leaves of the forest or the crevices of the rocks. Occasionally, the “Holy Ones” allegedly also came down to Strad and helped the girls with spinning flax — but the humans shied away from them, and those who saw the white gowns float in the air were overcome with fear and fled.

In the vault, which was usually called “Eggerskeller” — some say “Erga’skeller”, and scholars of the Classical Antiquity would probably drag the nymph Egeria into this by her beautiful hair — there was an opening, similar to the one at the Thuringian Hörseelenberg mountain. It was of a size that a boy might be able to squeeze into it. But the difference to the hole in the Hörseelenberg is that the one at the Ungarberg is not always seen as open. Even if someone has seen it open once before, they will not find it again or else they will discover that it has been closed by rocks.

Once, the herder of Strad went up there in order to cut off birch branches and fashion brooms with them. The nice green space in front of the vault was well suited for his labor. He removed the leaves of the cut branches, and tied his brooms. The next day, when he went back up to this location in order to continue this work, he no longer found a single birch leaf on the ground, for it had all been swept away. He sat down on a block of stone and tended to his task. Then sweet and delightful singing from the beautiful voices of three girls arose deep in the interior of the mountain. This charmed the heart of the poor young herder. He listened for a long time with bated breath until the singing ended, and then he climbed back down to Strad as if intoxicated.

Soon, the broom maker was back at the spot which he had come to hold dear. The herd was grazing and guarded by the faithful dog — the leaves were once more cleanly swept away, and when the herder looked up, he saw three white girls’ dresses hanging in the air and fluttering in the wind. He did not see any rope on which the dresses were hanging, and dread overcame him and he hurried away. If he had only taken one of the dresses, one of the Blessed Ones would have been bound to his side and his service.

Nevertheless, even though the hung-up dresses had startled him, an irresistible yearning pulled him back to the height of the Ungarskopf after several days. And behold! Unhoped for and unexpectedly, a Blessed Maiden showed herself to his gaze in the full loveliness of her countenance. But she did not approach him. Instead, it seemed that the Blessed One wanted him to follow her — she looked at him and smiled, and then went away — into the mountain and thus disappeared from his sight. He did not dare to enter the mountain as well — he only listened to the blissfulness of the singing that echoed from the depths, and then consumed himself in silent yearning.

A farmer lived in Strad who was named Anton Tangl, and it has been less than ten years since he died. He once also came up to the vicinity of the vault in order to dig up sticks. When he had dug out and lifted a stick with particularly deep roots, a hole that went deep into the ground suddenly showed itself to him. Tangl looked inside, and through the opening and down the slope, he saw a gently illuminated green lawn, and a milk-white mountain stream with frothing waves was flowing across it.

This astonished the man greatly, but he was astonished even more when he saw the three snow-like maidens sitting on the green expanse deep below him — appearing small, like puppets. They sat next to each other, held each other in their arms in a sisterly manner, and sang a lovely song whose melody he heard clearly, but whose words he could not understand. Tangl listened until night arrived and he could no longer distinguish anything down there. Then he went down to Strad, and told others of his strange experience. But nobody wanted to believe him, and the next day several friends accompanied Tangl back up to the Ungarskopf. Tangl proceeded ahead and searched for the right spot. However, he sought it in vain, and all of his searches were unsuccessful. Thus, he had to suffer being called a dough head, a fool, a liar, and a no-good dreamer by the others.

“If I had only kept my mouth shut!” was something Tangl often said later on. “And if I had crawled into the mountain instead of gossiping about it to others, I could have become very fortunate indeed and carry beautiful things outside. But humans can be very foolish creatures at times.”

Source: Alpenburg - Mythen und Sagen Tirols, p. 21ff