On the east side of the Staufen, two slender boulders rise up, called the big and the small man stone. Actually, they should be called Mannstein and Fräuleinstein.
According to legend, a noble boy once grew up at Königstein Castle, who only brought joy to his father. Although still young in years, he was knighted at an imperial coronation in Frankfurt.
At home, the lord of the castle prepared a big party for his son, at which the young knight met a beautiful damsel who had come secretly with relatives, secretly because her father was at odds with the lord of the castle. The young knight and the young lady fell in love with each other and wanted to meet one of the next few days near the young lady's paternal castle.
The damsel's father had his daughter constantly monitored by a servant. The old woman, who was a witch, had quickly found out that the young lady had been at the festival. She watched the couple at their tryst.
When the two discovered the servant, they fled to the Staufen. But the witch was faster than them. Once at the top, she turned first the young man and then the girl into a stone with a magic spell. It is said that lovers wake up every thirteen years and stroll and caress at the Gimbacher Hof. But the next day they turn to stone again.
To be read in the "Taunus Sagenschatz" by Helmut Bode (Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt a. M. 1986)
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The Staufen is a 451 m above sea level. NHN high mountain in the Taunus low mountain range. It is located near Kelkheim in the Main-Taunus district in Hesse.
Staufen, which is part of the Vordertaunus, is located in the Taunus Nature Park between Kelkheim in the east, its Fischbach district in the north-east and the core town of Eppstein in the west. To the north flows the Fischbach, which flows into the Schwarzbach west of the mountain in Eppstein. The Gimbach rises on the south-east flank of the mountain as the western tributary of the Liederbach, which runs through Kelkheim.
The Staufen belongs in the main natural area group Taunus (number 30) and in the main area Vordertaunus (300) to the natural area Eppstein-Hornauer Vortaunus (300.1), with the natural area Main-Taunusvorland (235) adjoining on its eastern flank.