The Witch Ride, a Witchy Wednesday article.
.png)
The Witch Ride, a folklore story from Germany
Once there was a wealthy peasant, whose wife -- the people said -- was a witch. This was repeated so often that the peasant himself finally heard the rumor. He wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, and thus one day before May Night he went out and got some turf from the grave of a child who had died without being baptized. He secretly hid the turf then went to bed with his wife. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, although he remained awake and attentive.
At the strike of twelve his wife did indeed get up and sneak out the bedroom door. The peasant, taking turf with him, followed her outside the house door, where she suddenly disappeared. He saw nothing but a troop of black horses. But the peasant did not allow himself to be deceived. Quickly placing the turf on his head, he saw -- instead of the black horses -- women and girls of his acquaintance. In their midst was his wife. He also heard them discussing their trip to Block Mountain. He recognized them, because anyone beneath the earth can see witches and spirits in their true form.
Angered, the peasant jumped at his wife and swung himself onto her, just as one would climb onto an ordinary horse's back. He also knew witches' magic words and called out:
Horse of black, horse so fleet,
Do you duty with quick feet.
Then she rose up and carried him into the air. She did not tire from the mighty ride, nor did the peasant grow tired. Again and again he called out:
Horse of black, horse so fleet,
Do you duty with quick feet.
But that was his misfortune, because before he knew it, May Night was over. Morning broke across the mountains, and his wife was no longer a black horse. She let out a pitiful scream, and together they fell from high in the air, horribly smashing themselves to pieces.
From that time forth they have made this same ride every night, and they will have no rest until the day of judgement.
Witchcraft Legends
translated and/or edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 2000-2018
Sourced from https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/folklinks.html
A fabulous collection of Folklore stories from around the world.
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/witch.html#witchride
Source: August Ey, "Der Hexenritt," Harzmärchenbuch; oder, Sagen und Märchen aus dem Oberharze (Stade: Verlag von Fr. Steudel, 1862), pp. 46-48.
http://books.google.co.uk/books
Fab article about German Witches from The Streets of Salem blog.
https://streetsofsalem.com/2011/10/24/german-witches/
 |
| The Witches Hans Baldung (called Hans Baldung Grien) German Public Domain image. The Witches Hans Baldung(called Hans Baldung Grien) German 1510 A masterpiece of German chiaroscuro, this woodcut is one of Hans Baldung Grien's best known prints, produced soon after his move to Strasbourg from Nuremberg, where he had worked as a journeyman with Albrecht Dürer from about 1503 to 1507. Although Baldung was not the inventor of the chiaroscuro woodcut—the credit for this must go to Hans Burgkmair—he was among the very earliest and most effective practitioners of the medium.The tone block for this woodcut is sometimes printed in an orange-brown, casting a hellish glow onto the scene; here the use of a gray tone block creates an atmosphere of nocturnal gloom from which the three witches emerge, gathered around the steaming cauldron of "flying unguent." The flickering highlights, where the white of the paper is exposed, give three-dimensional presence to forms that would otherwise be engulfed by the dark setting and, by continuing the modeling of the dark hatching strokes, powerfully define the volumes of the monumental nudes, the blasted tree, and the solid coils of steam that support the witches as they ascend in the night air.The interest in witchcraft in the German-speaking countries was especially strong at the beginning of the sixteenth century, heralded by the publication in 1487 of the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer) by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, which was reprinted fourteen times before 1520. More information please visit. |
Thank you for visiting my blog, please join me again next week for another Witchy Wednesday article. Thankful wishes, Kat
