Toads and Folk Belief in Tyrol

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Note: Just as the larger, excellent collection “Tirols volksdichtungen und volksgebräuche, gesammelt durch die brüder Ignaz und Josef Zingerle” (1. bd. kinder- und hausmärchen. Innsbruck 1852) has done, so may this report and others of dear Tyrolean friends show what we should think of the judgment of Steub, who spoke in “drei sommer in Tirol” on p. 645 of the “withered and dried-up people of Tyrol” which has lost “its legends and fairy tales, its songs, its music, its dances, its festivals and enjoyments thanks to priest and government officials” and so forth. Similar and worse untruths are contained within the book “Briefe aus und über Tirol” by the Prussian lord von Hartwig. Such dodgy North German junkers and South German doctores possess the arrogance to judge a people which they shall never understand. P.

No animal plays as important a role in the beliefs of our people as the toad. Many superstitious customs, legends, and fairy tales confirm this. As this indicates that these traits of our folk beliefs are remnants of an ancient, largely vanished tradition, we must conclude that they represent the fragment of an ancient pagan cult. For this reason, a short sketch of this toad cult in our mountains might be of interest. Thus, I want to share some of the most widespread accounts of this toad veneration here, and leave it to the scholars and researchers of German mythology to find the mythic significance behind this raw material.

In most regions of Tyrol, people see poor souls in the larger types of toads (called “Hötschen” in South Tyrol, and “Höppinen” in the Inn valley) which roam on Earth in this form and do penance for their debt of sins. For this reason, the people look upon these ugly animals with secret dread and pity. Hurting them is seen as the greatest kind of callousness, and thus they take care not to do any harm to these animals. Mothers show toads to their children with the sternest of admonishments never to torture or kill them. For then the child would transgress heavily against a suffering soul, and one day be in a similar situation and not find either mercy or release for a long time. These toads are said to appear near chapels and particularly near pilgrimage sites on Ember days. The following legend should be considered representative of many of this type.

The Toad in the Michaelis Chapel in Schwaz

There is an image representing Pensive Christ in the Michaelis Chapel in Schwaz which is said to cause miracles. The people have great confidence in this holy image, and even in the deepest winter and late in the evening devout worshipers can be found there. On certain days, usually on the eve of high holy days, people saw a large toad there. The toad crept to the altar, rose up on its hind feet, and held its front feet together and raised them up high as if it wanted to pray. This toad has not been seen for a long time, but the locals still tell of it often and say that it must have been a poor soul.

I have heard a similar tale from Meran, where a toad appeared on the climb down to the Todtenkirche on Ember Day for many years until it was finally released.

Frequently the release of the toad is tied to a pilgrimage which it now must complete in this form because it pledged to do so while alive but failed to fulfill this pledge. According to folk belief, the poor animals then must travel for long distances every day, and even in long years won’t reach their destination of their journey if a fortuitous circumstance makes the journey easier for them. If someone sees a toad next to the road to a famous pilgrimage site which struggles with moving forward, or which sits next to the road and breathes heavily, then they believe that this is a poor soul who must complete a pledged pilgrimage in this form.(*) Another nice legend of this type is told in Innsbruck and Zirl.

The Toad and the Carter

Once, when a carter drove from Innsbruck to Seefeld, a large toad waddled after the wagon, and finally jumped on the footrest of the wagon. The carter did not want to tolerate the ugly animal there, and threw it off the plank. The toad was undeterred and hopped back on the footrest, from which the carter threw it off again. This continued for a long time until the carter finally relented and let the toad drive with him. It lay there quietly until they reached the spot where a side road went off towards the church of Seefeld, which is famous for the holy blood venerated within. There the toad suddenly vanished, and an utterly beautiful maiden who was clad in pure white stood before the surprised carter. She thanked him and said that she had pledged a pilgrimage to the holy blood in Seefeld, but had not fulfilled that pledge. As penance she had to roam the world as a toad until she had finally made good on what she had neglected. Now her pledge was fulfilled, and she was released. With these words, she vanished.

Just like people believe with buried treasures that the one who has hidden the treasure must stay there and greet those who seek it, they also believe that these treasure guardians appear in the shape of toads. This explains the numerous legends which claim that a treasure lies at locations where toads are frequently seen, and that a toad sits on the treasure and guards it similar to how the same is told about black dogs in other regions.

(*) For example, it is said that a toad needs seven years to get from Leifers to Weißenstein, where a famous image of the Virgin Mary is venerated. When the toad had reached the destination of the pilgrimage, it was released and flew towards Heaven in the shape of a white pigeon.

Source: Wolf - Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde Erster Band, p. 7ff

caption Note: This story was published in the book Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles: Commentaries on German folklore. Get the book for further context and explanatory commentary!