Famous German myths

German legends have become popular in mass culture thanks to the Grimm brothers. But there are some that have not gone far beyond Germany.

One of the most famous German legends, which has not received great fame in the world, can be considered a legend about Lorelei. This story tells the story of a girl who sat on the rock of the same name on the Rhine River and whispered, sang and lured the ships with her beauty, and they crashed on the rocks. Lorelei’s name is the name of the rock, translated as “whispering rock”. The effect of whispering arose because of the river threshold, which does not exist here since the beginning of the XIX century. The same threshold seems to have been the cause of the shipwrecks on the Rhine. The legend gained wide popularity after a poem by Heinrich Heine (“Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten…”). – “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”) Lorelei is still popular. Its image is used by many musicians (for example, Scorpions group).

Germans have their own fairy tales that scare children and mothers. According to the legend, there is a werewolf who hunts children, but can take the form of any animal or even a person. These creatures take the place of a child. If this happens, the offspring stop growing and gain weight. To protect the children, you need to put a key next to them or cover them with men’s underwear, otherwise instead of them in the crib will be one of these werewolves. You can’t leave the mother alone for 6 months after the birth of the child, and if the mother goes to bed, someone else has to look after the child, because this is the most dangerous period. Although these rules are quite reasonable, even if you do not take into account the treacherous monster.

And the third legend is the story of a werewolf from Morbach. The story says that a group of Napoleon’s soldiers deserted cowardly and fled to their homeland, attacking a German family of farmers on the way. The farmer’s wife cursed one of the soldiers before she died, and he became a werewolf. Since then, and to this day, Morbach’s residents have lit a candle to scare off the monster. Only one day in 1988 was it forgotten to light a candle and a huge two-legged wolf was seen by American soldiers near their airbase. To this day, this case is considered one of the few real cases of contact werewolves and people. About the monster from Morabagh they make films and discuss on thematic forums. Whether this is true or not is not known, but just in case, the candles are still lit.

If you like this article, then we have more material about the existing places of German fairy tales.