The saga of the Bettelwurf spirit
After the pious "Forest Brethren", the nuns who moved into the St Magdalena convent were not always so pious and kind-hearted.
One day a poor salt-miner arrived at the convent gate, requesting charity for his hungry children. The grumpy nun who opened the door to him handed him a piece of rock-hard bread. At which point the poor man was seized by a wild rage and shouted: "You can eat this scrap yourself, you miserly skinflint!" And with a powerful movement he slung the bread against the rock wall. But regardless of whether it is stale or fresh, bread is a gift of God and it has to be treated with respect. The nun was appalled at this deed. She shouted: "You will pay for that. You will never find peace in your grave. Your spirit will wander the valley restlessly."
And so it came to pass. The man was not seen again. His spirit roams around invisibly among the rock walls of the Hall valley. In the winter, he sets off avalanches of dust, and in the summer he unleashes cascades of loose rock. When the warm föhn wind blows, he can be heard ranting and wailing from the rock gorges.
But the nun's miserliness was also punished. An earthquake in 1670 damaged the convent and 19 years later it was completely destroyed by another quake. The steep and rugged rock against which the salt-mine worker threw the stale bread offered by the nun, the "Bettel", became known as the "Bettelwurf".
One day a poor salt-miner arrived at the convent gate, requesting charity for his hungry children. The grumpy nun who opened the door to him handed him a piece of rock-hard bread. At which point the poor man was seized by a wild rage and shouted: "You can eat this scrap yourself, you miserly skinflint!" And with a powerful movement he slung the bread against the rock wall. But regardless of whether it is stale or fresh, bread is a gift of God and it has to be treated with respect. The nun was appalled at this deed. She shouted: "You will pay for that. You will never find peace in your grave. Your spirit will wander the valley restlessly."
And so it came to pass. The man was not seen again. His spirit roams around invisibly among the rock walls of the Hall valley. In the winter, he sets off avalanches of dust, and in the summer he unleashes cascades of loose rock. When the warm föhn wind blows, he can be heard ranting and wailing from the rock gorges.
But the nun's miserliness was also punished. An earthquake in 1670 damaged the convent and 19 years later it was completely destroyed by another quake. The steep and rugged rock against which the salt-mine worker threw the stale bread offered by the nun, the "Bettel", became known as the "Bettelwurf".
