Muhkalb

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The Muhkalb is a local legend in many places in Rheinhessen , the Rheingau and other parts of southwest Germany . The figure was repeatedly taken up in literature and works of art.

Spread and Legends

The Muhkalf is usually described as a very large calf with the head of a full-grown cow and glowing eyes, sometimes also as a hybrid of a bull and a virgin. It only appears at night and spreads fear and horror with its terrible screams. It is also reported that it jumps on its victims' backs or even tramples them to death. The oldest written mention comes from Friedrich Christian Laukhard , who reports that before 1750 in Wendelsheim, the Muhkalb himself was preached in the church. Laukhard repeatedly cites the Muhkalb as an example of the gullibility and superstition of the rural population.

The legends about the Muhkalb are very different locally. Very specific legends have been handed down for the following municipalities and cities:

place legend
Youth home An unfaithful nun drowned herself and her child in a well. Since then she has had to walk as a muhkalb as a punishment and warn lovers against similar acts.
Lorch In Lorch , the Muhkalb is said to have lived in the dark gate entrance of the building since the Hilchenhaus was built. In particular, adulterers, rampant wine merchants and ruffians were afflicted by the muhkalb.

Around 1550, the Muhkalb is said to have saved the city from bankruptcy by chasing the land clerks of the Elector of Mainz out of the city, who wanted to collect war debts of 5000 guilders.

Heilbronn During the Thirty Years' War , a butcher from Heilbronn was accused of selling dog meat as veal .

He denied this and vowed that if the allegations were true, he would be reborn as a calf. A short time later he died of the plague . Since then he has haunted the city at night in the form of the Muhkalf.

Saarbrücken In the evening a calf appeared in the streets, which grew to an unnatural size and later swelled again. It also sometimes took the form of a dog, a cow, a donkey, or a horse. Often it is said to have appeared as a headless calf.

Arts and Culture

  • Heinrich Ruppel published a stage play in 1925 with the title Das Muhkalb .
  • The Rügen artist Heinz Mewius made a sculpture of the Muhkalb for a private collector. A book has been published about the creation process of the sculpture.
  • Klaus Steiner premiered Das Muhkalb im Bottleneck , the world's first a cappella opera, in the Lorcher Hilchenhaus as part of the Lorcher Kulturtage in 2017 with the a cappella choir Vokal Fatal .

See also

literature

  • Friedrich Christian Laukhard : FC Laukhards, formerly Magister of Philosophy and now musketeer under the Thaddenschen Regiment zu Halle, Leben und Fatesale, described by himself and published as a warning for parents and young students . tape 1 . Michaelis and Bispink, Halle 1792, p. 36–41 ( digitized version and full text in the German text archive ).
  • Robert Struppmann: Chronicle of the city of Lorch in the Rheingau . Ed .: Maria Kaufmann Foundation. Maria Kaufmann Foundation, Lorch 1981, DNB  871422794 .
  • Karl Wehrhan : Legends from Hessen and Nassau . S. 38 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  • Ferdinand Dieffenbach: The Grand Duchy of Hesse in the past and present . 1883, p. 38 ff .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich Christian Laukhard : FC Laukhards, formerly Magister of Philosophy and now musketeer under the Thaddenschen Regiment zu Halle, Leben und Schicksale, described by himself and published as a warning for parents and young students . tape 1 . Michaelis and Bispink, Halle 1792, p. 36–41 ( digitized version and full text in the German text archive ).
  2. ^ Karl Wehrhan : Legends from Hessen and Nassau . S. 38 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  3. ^ Robert Struppmann: Chronicle of the city of Lorch in the Rheingau . Ed .: Maria Kaufmann Foundation. Maria Kaufmann Foundation, Lorch 1981, DNB  871422794 , p. 158 ff .
  4. ^ Heinrich Titot : Description of the Oberamt Heilbronn . H. Lindemann, Stuttgart 1865, p. 244 ( Wikisource version dated May 3, 2016).
  5. ^ Karl Lohmeyer : The legends of the Saarbrücker and Birkenfeld country . Gebr. Hofer A.-G., Saarbrücken publishing house, Völklingen, Leipzig, 1923.
  6. ↑ Heinrich Ruppel: Das Muhkalb. Funny one-act act for three people . Bernecker, 1925.
  7. ↑ Georg Breitwieser (Ed.): The Lorcher Muhkalb . H. Wisperverlag, 1996.