The Devil’s Mill at Neubrandenburg
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| Geographic Coordinates: 53° 33' 25.20" N, 13° 15' 39.60" E |
In a large, gloomy deciduous forest near Neubrandenburg, there were two old watermills in close proximity to each other. One of them was called the “Teufelsmühle” (“Devil’s Mill”) because the Devil himself lived there. He had made a contract with the owner of the other mill where the latter had to deliver him a soul on the first day of each month. The miller fulfilled his contract punctually. But soon he developed a foul reputation, for all of his journeymen vanished without a trace in short order. One day a miller’s journeyman from Swabia visited him because he was utterly bereft of money and all his belongings were worn down, and thus he was looking for work at any price. The miller hired him on the spot and told him that he would have to do nothing more than deliver a wagonload of wood shavings to the Teufelsmühle on the first day of each month. The journeyman eagerly agreed to take over this easy work and drove his load to the Teufelsmühle the very next day, which happened to be the first day of the new month.
As he arrived there, a man wearing a large coat stepped in front of the house and ordered him to throw the wood shavings into a large pit which was visible in the yard. In the past, the Evil One had always pushed the journeyman into this pit when they had unsuspectingly approached it for unloading. However, the miller’s journeyman, who had heard a lot about the mill and its inhabitant, refused to unload the wood shavings since he hadn’t been ordered to do so by his master. Thus, the Devil was forced to do the work himself. But as soon as he had bent down over the pit to throw in an armload of wood shavings, the smart Swabian grabbed him and pushed him in head-first. As soon as this happened, a horrible stench of sulfur rose up from the pit, and with a thunderous noise the mill and all surrounding buildings collapsed. Of the Devil’s estate, there was nothing left but rubble. A pillar of smoke rose above the rubble and then sank into the pit into which the Devil had fallen. The brave miller’s journeyman however traveled away with his cart and a light heart.
Source: Bartsch - Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg Band 1, p. 218f