World dog
The world dog (called Bachpfattli in the Upper Basel region ) is a legendary figure from the German-speaking area. He is described as a dog with one eye "in the middle of the head". If the inhabitants and farmers of the landscape are doing well, he is thin and lean. If the country is plagued by epidemics and poverty, it is well fed.
The origin of the World Dog is explained differently depending on the version of the legend: Sometimes it was a vicious sovereign who tormented peasants and excessively collected their tithes from them and was condemned by God to eke out his further life as a World Dog, sometimes it was Colonel or ship's captain who sold his soul to the devil .
Almost all descriptions of the world dog have in common that they appear in moorlands, swamps or rivers.
In 2008 the film Welthund was shown in the cultural cinemas of Northwestern Switzerland , which is based on the serial novel "A Somewhat Different Summer" by Barbara Saladin . The novel interweaves several legends from Basel into one story, with the legend of the world dog forming the main plot line of the film.