The Maid and the Devil
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| Geographic Coordinates: 49° 27' 20.00" N, 11° 4' 43.00" E |
In a village near Nuremberg, there was a farm maid who loved a huntsman. When the maid went to cut hay, he always came out of the forest to meet her and walked with her to the meadow. When she was about to cut hay, he said: “Don’t bother, my dear girl!”, pulled her down into the grass, and laughed, flirted, and snuggled with her. And when it was time to go home, the maid had nothing more to do than to bundle the hay, for it had already been cut.
She had done so for an entire spring and summer when she once told her mistress in a merry mood: “I don’t work, and yet the hay has always been cut.” The farmer’s wife shook her head, thought that this was uncanny, and told the priest about it. The priest commanded the maiden that she should, as if in play, pull off the huntsman’s left boot. She did so, and was startled to behold a goat’s foot. Her lover was the Godbewithus. When the priest heard of this, he gave her two herbs. If her life was dear to her, she must carry it above her heart. The huntsman never appeared again while the maid was cutting hay. But, around midnight, he was frequently seen sneaking around the maiden’s home, where he wailed:
“Frankincense and myrrh have taken my beautiful bride!”
(From the papers in the estate of Schwanthaler.)
Source: Panzer - Bayerische Sagen und Bräuche Zweiter Band, p. 59f