The bottomless lake
Orally from Empfingen in the Principality of Hechingen.
Between Empfingen and Nordstetten, in the so-called Seewald, lies a small lake, which can not be fathomed and is therefore called the 'bottomless lake'. At the site of the lake, a monastery used to stand. The nuns, however, led a shameful life and danced with the boys from Empfingen and Nordstetten and loved them. For a thunderstorm, a lightning bolt hit the monastery, whereupon it and the nuns sunk into the depths. When a calamity is imminent, you see a small, nude female figure floating in the water right up to her breast, clearly recognizing that she is crying. It is believed that the lower half of this sea buckthorn, which has not been seen, has the shape of a fish. Others say that in the square of the lake there was a tavern in which one always danced on Sundays and practiced all sorts of godless things. Therefore, it is lost. But there are three white ladies living in the lake, who have often walked around the lake and come to weddings and dances after receptions. There is still a place in Empfingen which used to stand for an old linden tree, the so-called 'Tanzplatz', where they often danced. But somebody once asked where they came from? They said so, but they have stayed away ever since. Only at Advent time you should still be able to see them in the Seewald.
Ernst Meier, German legends, customs and customs from Swabia, Stuttgart 1852