The Wildschönau was once a large mountain lake! The lake was very mysterious and every now and then people heard strange songs from elves and mermaids.
At this time 2 boys were tending the sheep on the banks of the water! Intoxicated by the sweet mermaids, they fell asleep and were taken to the bottom of the lake where they saw a scary creature.
It had eyes as big as wagon wheels and a flaming look.
This should be a great warning to the valley residents.
Many of the young people from Wildschönau were in the Inn Valley at this time to support the Knights of Kummersburg in the war.
One day, when the mountain lake hit violent waves out of nowhere and a large flood came towards the valley, a huge monster rose out of the lake.
With large tentacles, huge teeth and fire, the animal raged around itself.
The beast destroyed everyone. Lived in the high valley and ate goats, sheep and people!
When the strongest guy in the valley heard about it, he returned home from the war to Wildschönau to fight the dragon.
With the last of his strength, the fighter managed to injure himself fatally.
In agony, with a terrible roar, the dragon bit through the rock until it burst!
This created a large swath west of Collarjoch, today's Kundler Gorge, and the water from the lake flowed into the Inn Valley.
The upturned tip of the Wildschönau flag still represents the path that the dragon cut.
(The deadly dragon of this time was probably the plague!)
The wild activities of the dragon and the flooding of the lake, only one man from Wildschönau and a farmer's wife from Brixental survived!
Both went on a search to find survivors and finally met at the mountain crossing from the Holzalm to the Norderbergalm in Niederau!
The two fell on each other's necks - hence today's name - HALSGATTERL! The current population is descended from these two.
In memory of this story and out of gratitude for a recovery, a local built a picturesque chapel at this point where 2 wooden figures face each other.
The Wildschönau has many legends.
Young people from a school in Wildschönau selected 20 Wildschönau sagas, rewrote them in a creative way and illustrated them in colorful ways.
The legend of Halsgatterl is one of them.
During your walks in Wildschönau you will certainly come across a sign like this (with a different legend.)
Further information: wildschoenau.com/de/region-orte/sagenhafte-wildschoenau You can read the legend of Halsgatterl here:
wildschoenau.com/wildschoenau/wanderungen/sagen/sagen10-11-halsgatterl.pdf (TIP: you can copy the text and convert it into your own language via Google Translate)
Translated by Google •
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