THE CAVE TOWER IN WÖLLERSDORF
At the entrance to the romantic Piesting Valley, high above the village of Wöllersdorf, stand the remains of a small, round tower, which covers the entrance to a large cave set in the jagged rock. This small tower is called the Cave Tower, and the large cave is called the Tower Cave, and the following lovely legend is told of both:
Once upon a time, a poor, foreign knight lived in the cave. To avoid the eternal ridicule of being called the Cave Devil, he decided to build a castle outside it. Since this knight neither robbed nor murdered, he was very poor and could therefore only with difficulty build a tiny tower and a stable for his skinny horse. Here he lived with his two squires in the two small floors of the tower and was quite happy, even though he was now called a beggar knight.
But when the enemy once invaded the valley, the inhabitants were happy that the beggar knight had hospitably welcomed them into his reviled cave and, under his protection, saved their desperately threatened lives. The fierce enemy's efforts to storm the fortified cave failed. Thanks to the knight's foresight, the grateful population had no words or gifts of thanks for the poor knight.
The beggar knight was now rich and built himself a fortified castle in this valley, which in later times offered the population secure protection from enemy raids just as hospitably as the former rocky cave. The former beggar knight became the ancestor of the rich, powerful, but never arrogant Starhemberg family.