The Dwarves of the Bielstein Rock

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I. The Bielstein hill is located directly at the northeastern end of the mountain town of Lautenthal. Beneath it, on the northwestern end of the town, the Innerste river flows towards it in a northeastern direction. At its base, the river turns to the left and flows alongside it. Above this curve of the river, up the hill and only a few steps above the water, there is a cave which is called the “Zwergloch” (“dwarf hole”) by the people of Lautenthal. But the meadow which lies at the base of the Bielstein to the right side of the Innerste river, and which stretches south of the hole is called the “Spar-die-Müh” (“Don’t Bother”). Three dwarves used to live in the dwarf hole. They lent money to the inhabitants of the mountain town Lautenthal, as well as gold and silver cutlery for weddings and baptisms. Once, people did not return the borrowed money to the dwarves. When they returned to the dwarf hole once more and wanted to borrow money, they heard a voice shouting at them: “Don’t bother!” From that time onwards, the dwarves no longer did any favors for the people of Lautenthal, and since then this spot is called: “Spar-die-Müh”.

II. Once, the three dwarves danced up on the hill and sang: “Today a woman is baking bread who has not put any caraway into her dough!” Two woodchoppers overheard this. Since the wife of one of them had intended to bake, he hurriedly ran home and warned her not to forget the caraway so that the dwarves would not steal the bread. Meanwhile, the dwarves kept on dancing to the tune “Have you seen our grandfather’s goat?” and other beautiful melodies. But when the woodchopper returned, the dwarves knew very well what happened. They grabbed him, and beat him up. This was also supposedly to be the reason why the people of Lautenthal were no longer able to borrow the beautiful dwarven tableware. And from this time onwards, they had to eat out of wooden bowls and with wooden spoons, even though they once had been able to dine with tableware made out of pure silver and gold.

III. Once, a woman in Lautenthal had kept one of the spoons of the dwarves. When she gave birth, the dwarves switched her child for a dwarf child. This child had a fat head and was unable to speak. Then an old woman brewed beer in an eggshell, and then the dwarf child said:

“I am as old as Thuringia and three rings,
I was fetched twice,
And I have never seen before how an old woman brews beer in an eggshell.”

Then they knew that they had a dwarf child. And to this day there are still many people in Lautenthal who have a fat head and are descended from the dwarves.

IV. Others tell that a miner once wanted to construct a mining tunnel on the Bielstein hill. When he returned each morning, everything he had done the previous day had collapsed. Thus, people told him: “Don’t bother!” But he still would not give up on excavating a tunnel there, and he cursed and ranted whenever his tunnel collapsed again. Finally, he slid down the Bilstein on his backside, and when he had reached the bottom, he told the people who were standing there: “I would not have thought that the mountain would slide down on my backside!”

Source: Pröhle - Harzsagen Zweite Auflage, p. 97ff

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Geographic Coordinates: 51° 52' 31.12" N, 10° 17' 56.65" E