Of Mrs. Venus and the wild army
At the same time it was obvious and common knowledge that a pagan image of a woman was also cursed in the Hörseelenberg. She appeared to the people full of kindness and lured them to the mountain with a courting love spell, which is why she was called Hulda, and such a woman of the gods was none other than Frau Venus , the goddess of all love, banished to the mountain to apparent joy and yet to eternal torment, because she, the most beautiful, used to warm, soft air, had to turn into a horrible larval form as a specter and horror in the coldest winter nights with all her courtship and companionship Chasing into the mountains and forests, with Hailoh and Hussa and all the noise and shouting and hollering of the angry army. There you would see decapitated people driving along with their heads under their arms, others rolling around with their heads woven on wheels, like Ixion in the pagan myth, some with their faces on their necks, others with their faces on their chests, some with snake tails and lizard claws ; some danced and hopped along on one leg, others did cartwheels like beggar boys, and all sorts of wild animals and hunting dogs chased along. In front of the army an old man walked with a white staff, who told the people to get out of the way so that they would not suffer any harm, he was called the faithful Eckart, and he used the saying: You are the faithful Eckart, you warn everyone . Some also call Mrs. Hulda or Mrs. Venus Herodias, Herod's daughter, who claimed John the Baptist's head and was cursed to eternal wandering like the running Jew. The children in Thuringia say when it snows: Mrs. Holle shakes out her feather bed; According to her, masked ghosts are called Hullenpöpel. Like the wild huntress Bertha or Berchta, she rewards hard-working maids and punishes the lazy ones, also dishevels and confuses the latter. The faithful Eckart believed that if the wild or angry army did not move, he would sit outside the cave and warn everyone not to go in, as an angel in human form appointed to this place by God.
Source: Ludwig Bechstein, German Saga Book, Leipzig 1853