Ulmer Spatz Sculpture

The Ulmer Spatz is a symbol of Ulm.
According to legend, when the minster was built, the people of Ulm brought in a particularly large beam. However, they did not manage to get him through the city gate. As they were about to break down the gate, they saw a sparrow carrying a twig in its beak to build into its nest. And this sparrow flew through the gate with the twig lengthways. Then the people of Ulm saw the light and they put the beam lengthwise on their cart and not across it, as before.
This humorous legend has been documented since the second quarter of the 19th century. It belongs to the widespread circle of legends about tree trunks and wooden beams being transported crosswise instead of alongside, whereby the solution to the problem was obtained by observing a bird (sparrow, stork, jackdaw, etc.) building a nest. As early as 1872, Eduard Mauch described the legend as a "falsification of history" that had to be "fighted to control the truth".

Source: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmer_Spatz

Very nice and distributed all over the city 🤩

The story of the Ulmer Sparrow

Back then many years ago
Did the following happen to the people of Ulm:
To all kinds of buildings in the city
You need timber and construction wood,
But the people didn't want to succeed
to bring in the beams through the gate,
And yet the matter was carefully considered
Put the wood across the wagon;
The gate was too narrow, the beams too long,
The city master builder was scared and afraid.

There was a lot to talk about:
And tremendous headache
Yes, even the High Magistrate
Didn't know what to do in this case
He liked to look in all the books
The case was nowhere provided
Even the mayor himself
Here, for once, was at a loss.
Him who knows everything best
Made things terribly hot.

And hour by hour the embarrassment grew
Then an incident happened
One of the smartest looks at a little spaetzle,
That builds its little nest at the top of the tower,
And a stalk that gets in each other's way
has laid in front of his little nest,
With the little beak - and that wasn't stupid
At the top turns round to the nest,
"You could do that," calls the man with a laugh,
"Do the same with the beam on the gate!".

You try it and it worked. - The good thought
Did the people of Ulm have the Spätzlein to thank:
They would probably still be standing at the gate today
With the chariot loaded with beams in front,
Or would have, unbeknownst to the little spaetzle,
Even having to sell the tower for demolition.
To say thank you to the sparrows you can still see today
His image carved in stone high on the Minster:
Also since then with the real Ulmerkind
The favorite food is "Spätzle".

Carl Hertzog, 1842