The Dragon of Jeizinen
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| Geographic Coordinates: 46° 19' 37.62" N, 7° 43' 24.20" E |
A citizen of Jeizinen once climbed up the mountain slope with his sled in order to gather wood. On the way back, he and his vehicle dropped into a deep crevice. However, this crevice was partially filled with snow so that the farmer was unharmed during the fall. It was impossible to climb up the steep, smooth wall, and thus he walked along the crevice and reached a dark tunnel. He perceived a bright shine deeper in the tunnel, and headed towards it. When he got closer, he was terrified to behold an ugly dragon with glowing eyes which was nestled against the wall. It eagerly licked up the liquid that was dripping down from the walls. The farmer waited for a while, and the monster made no move to harm him. Since he was plagued by hunger and thirst, he too put his mouth to the wall, and began to lick up the yellow-red liquid that was slowly seeping down. Soon, he felt renewed, and since it was impossible to get out of the crevice, he lived with the dragoon in the cave for a long time.
Once, the dragon crawled outside, shook its wings so that it brightened up like an alpine fire, and swung up into the air. The poor, trapped farmer only now realized that he should have grabbed the tail and let himself be carried to the rock precipice. Soon, the dragon returned, but a long time passed until the cave creature shook its wings and prepared itself for flight. This time, he did not want to miss the opportunity. He held onto the tail, and flew up with the creature. The creature flew very carefully, and put him down on the side of the crevice. He hurried home with great haste, and everyone was rather astonished to see the man who had been considered dead for a long time. The father told his tale of suffering, and ordered the son to go to the boundary of the cave with the sled and gather the dragon’s droppings, for they were pure gold. He himself was unable to go, since he did not feel well and could no longer stomach food. Whatever he ate or drank, he vomited up again, and he felt as if there was a heavy weight in his body. After a few days, he died, and after his corpse was cut up as per his wishes, a large gold nugget was found in his stomach. It had a weight of seven pounds, and he had lived within the cave for seven years.
The son brought the shiny dragon’s droppings back home on his sled. This noble metal made him into the richest man in the entire region, and he gifted the town so much of it that they were able to cast 120 golden cups and 12 golden chalices from it. Then there was still some left over, which was formed into rectangular clumps, so call-ed “Tötzli”.