Gfallrote

The Gfällrote is a legend, a witch , in the Black Forest around Kandel drove to mischief and including as harm-bringing spirit and in the poaching appeared on the scene. She appears as a shapeshifter and takes the look and feel. A. of a tree stump. She is accompanied by two dogs, which suggests a reference to the Greek goddess Hecate . It is impossible to kill the Gfallroten, so they shouldn't be injured by a bullet and should have risen from the ashes of a funeral pyre , comparable to the witch Gullveig .

According to legend, the dogs in their company are not immortal, but are kept alive by the mistress' black magic. A group of hunters is said to have ambushed the witch and killed her dogs on a fir tree after the witch escaped. When after three days the decomposition of the animal bodies began, the hunters gave up the project. A short time later the Gfallroten cut their dogs from the tree and they were vicious and alive as before. Another feature are the red-hot eyes, which she cannot hide when changing shape, which, in addition to shape change, represents another parallel to the werewolf .

literature

• Fritz Hockenjos: forest stories. From the corner of God in the Black Forest . Schillinger Verlag, Freiburg, 1994, ISBN 978-3891551288

swell

• Willi Thoma: Elztäler Legends - animal legends about the Kandel. Ed .: Volksbank Lahr, 1986 ISBN 3-87885098-0