The Wildg’fahr Abducts a Child

Many years ago, the following occurred in Wildschönau, which lies to the right side of the Inn river in a side valley. A farmer couple once had to go to work early in the day - even before daybreak. They hurried, and left their only child behind. For it was asleep, and they thought that the mother would be back in the morning before the time the child would get out of bed.

However, the child woke up very early on its own. And, as the child found itself alone, it became afraid and cried and screamed. It ran out of the house in order to hurry after the parents - unwashed and unblessed.

But because of this, the demons inimical to humans gained power over it. And suddenly, the Wildg’fahr, the Wild Hunt was upon the child, grabbed it, and lifted it up into the air like a whirlwind lifts hay. The child, in fear of its life, flew across the valley of the Kundler Ache. Then the Wildg’fahr put it down again beyond that valley, on a meadow above Thierbach. Fortunately, the child was completely unharmed. This occurred in the Seventies, and thus was almost a century ago.

Source: von Alpenburg, J. N. R. Mythen und Sagen Tirols. 1857, p. 69f.

Notes & commentary: Return of the Wildg'fahr