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Jazz-Szene Lungau/Sagenfest

BE-Projekte

Projekt der 4A-Klasse

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Radioplay / Script

Texts for printing

Projekt: Tales & Mails / 2B - Musikhauptschule St. Michael/Lungau

Projektlehrer/Teachers: Fritz Messner, Andrea Schlick

Tales from Lungau
translated into English by pupils of the 2B-class / MHS St. Michael

Project Aim:

Exchanging local tales from all over the world by e-mail and transfer them into texts, paintings, sculptures, songs, dances .......... or whatever.

Intoduction:

Geographically Lungau is a basin surrounded by the high mountains of the Austrian Alps, politically it is a small province about 100 km southwest of Salzburg/Austria/Central-Europe. Almost 90 percent of the Lungau is situated1000 metres above the sea level. 22.000 people live in this area, having their own dialect and traditions. As a consequence of its georgaphic seclution these traditions are quite unique.

One facet of these traditions are tales, they tell a lot about people and the way they feel (or felt in the old times). As the tales developed during the centuries, they give strong impressions of peoples' needs, fears and hopes at those times. Most of them tell us about devils, witches, magicians, and supernatural powers, about life and death. They have developed around historical places, buildings, people, or historical incidents.

The pupils really like working on this project because they can explore new and thrilling aspects of places or buildings in their home villages and can take an interesting view back onto other times and centuries. They could choose theit favourite tales and most of them chose stories with ghosts, devils or witches or magic, because they were really fascinated by it.

The goal of our project is to exchange local tales with schools from all over the world. We have sent our tales to many different schools and are looking forward to getting back tales from areas in other countries and continents. I think our little project could be part of a new way of better understanding and tolerance among different peope and cultures on our planet.

We are all different - but deep inside we are all one!

Fritz Messner, March 2000

The Tales


Shoemaker's Lane

I live at Shoemaker's Lane. It is in "Zederhaus", a village in Austria.
But where does the name Shoemaker's Lane come from? There is a tale about that.
Once, there lived a shoemaker in this lane. He was a very good shoemaker. Poeple from all villages around came to him, and bought his shoes.
One day, the shoemaker said to his son:" I am old and I will die soon. You are going to have my workshop, boy." Shortly after that the shoemaker became ill. He said to his wife:" Honey, I'm going to die.You must do my work now. Look into my cupboard near the bed. What you find there is for you and our son."
A few days later, the shoemaker died.
But his son and his wife didn't want to work. They spent the shoemaker’s money. So the shoemaker couldn't find his rest in his grave. Every night he went along the lane from the cemetery to his old workshop. The poeple said:"Oh, what a poor shoemaker. He cannot find his rest. Let's call this lane Shoemaker's Lane."
From that time on, the way from the cemetery near the church church to his workshop is called:"SCHUSTERGASSE", that is Shoemaker’s Lane in English.

Written by: Stefanie Moser




The End of Schörgen Toni

moosham1.jpg (7386 Byte) The Castle of Moosham

It was in the middle of the 18^th century. A man called „Schörgen Toni" lived in the castle "Schloss Moosham". He was very cruel and tormented the poor prisoners there.The other people around the castle thought that he was the devil disguised as a man. They were afraid of him.But Schörgen Toni's end was still to come.
It was a stormy autumn night. Black clouds were over the land and the wind blew very hard. When it was midnight an uncanny vehicle came to the castle.
At that time „Schörgen Toni" came home from his night walk. He went into his room. Suddenly somebody knocked at the door. Schörgen Toni was afraid. The door opened. A black man came in. It was the devil.
Schörgen Toni knew who the man was. He was there because his end was near. The devil wanted to take the cruel man with him. Hel took Schörgen Toni and dragged him into his vehicle. They drove to a mountain lake called "Rotgüldensee". They drove into the water. Schörgen Toni died but his ghost lived on in the dark lake. When hikers came to the lake his ghost came out of the water as a fireball and frightened the people.
Many years after that a hunter came to the "Rotgüldensee". Behind a stone he saw a big snake. He was not afraid and so he shot the snake. From that moment on, the ghost of Schörgen Toni never was seen around lake.

Written by: Elisabeth Roßmann

The Zauner-Lake

In Zederhaus there is a lake. It is called the Zauner-Lake. I want to tell the tale how the lake got its name.
The farmer Zauner could play cards very, very well. Nobody in the village wanted to play with him. One day a wanderer came to the village. He played cards with the farmer. After an hour the Zauner had lost all his money. The Zauner said:" Let's play again. I bet one half of my "Alm" +) that I win the game." They played another game and farmer lost again.
In spring, when he went up on the mountain, the Zauner saw a new shack on his Alm. It was the wanderer's shack. The Zauner did not like that and he wanted to drive away the wanderer. He scared his best cows, so that they fell from a rock and were all dead. The wanderer gave up and shouted: " You can have your Alm again. But it won't make you happy!" And then he had another present for the unfair farmer: He shook his hands in a strange way and it started to rain. After a week the shacks of the Alm were under the water. When the rain stopped, there was a lake all over the Zauner’s Alm.
It is called the "Zauner-Lake" today.

+) An "Alm" is a mountain meadow with a shack where the animals are during the summer
Written by: Gerhard Kremser

The Funeral Procession
One night the Mähnerbauer (a farmer), Kaspar Karner from St, Martin and his friend, Jakob Moser went to visit a maid in Oberweißburg, a little village, 5 kilometres away from St. Martin. They were in love with the young woman.
On the way to Oberweißburg the two young men passed a funeral procession.They were very scared. Four men carried a coffin . Behind the coffin went people with burning candles.
When the friends saw the procession they ran back to the village, but the nightly funeral procession followed them. It vanished in the cemetery. But on this day nobody had died or was buried. After that night one of the men become very ill.

Written by: Corinna Gappmaier

The Archbishop’s Butcher and the Zederhaus-Bread
The village of Zederhaus
The archbishop’s butcher Perner was a very rich and famous man. He lived in the city of Salzburg, 100 kilometres away from the Lungau. One day he came to Zederhaus, a village in a small valley near St. Michael. A farmer gave him some bread and butter to eat. The rich man said:" This food is very bad! I’ll take it to the bishop and show him what bad bread you have got."
On his way home over the mountains the weather was very bad. There was a snowstorm. The archbishop’s butcher could not go on. He was tired and hungry. Now he ate the bad bread from the farmer. The bread saved his life.
Thankfully Mr. Perner gave the church of Zederhaus a very valuable silver cross.

Written by: Barbara Kößler



The Beardmill
A long time ago in Zederhaus there was a miller. All the farmers had to bring their grain to the mill . For his work the miller got a little bit of the flour from every farmer. So the miller became very rich. But he also became very greedy. The farmers were very angry because one day they found out that the miller cheated them.They wanted to punish the miller for his deeds.
In the village lived an ugly old man, all the people were afraid of him. The farmers went to him and asked the old man for advice. The old man promised to help the farmers.
The next day he went to the miller.The miller shouted at him:"Go away from my house, you ugly man!"
But the old man did not go away and he cursed the greedy miller.
After that a very long beard grew in the miller’s face. The beard did not stop growing and became longer and longer. The miller could not work in his mill any more because his beard was too long. So he became very poor. And he could not cheat the farmers any more.

written by: Hannes Gruber

Christmas Night

A farmer in Zederhaus said to his farm labourer: "Hey, Rupert, go out to the stable and listen to the animals, when they are speaking!"
People believed, that animals can speak in the Christmas night. Rupert went into the stable.
He heard, that one bullock said to the other:" Hey, stand up and listen to me!" „What is so important?", asked the other bullock. "Something terrible will happen. In two days we will have to carry the farmer to the cemetery, because he will die."
Next day at lunch the farm labourer told it the farmer. The poor man was so scared, that he choked with a piece of meat and died. So the conversation of the animals came true.

Written by: Andrea Bogensperger



The Darkpit
A long time ago there lived a farmer in Zederhaus. He had a very big Alm +) on the Großeck mountain. His animals on the pasture were the best animals in Zederhaus.
The farmer always went to the farm labourers and looked after them. He did not want that they were lazy. One of the farm labourers got very angry about that. One day when he was very angry he said:" The farmer and his animals must be in contact with the devil!"
Suddenly a big flame flashed up on top of the Großeck.The farm labourer ran into the hut because he was afraid of the flame. But the farmer was not afraid and stayed outside.
In front of the farmer stood a very big devil. The devil shouted:"Farmer, I am here to get you and your animals now!" But the farmer was a religious man, he did not worry about the devil. He shouted: "I am not afraid of you! Go back to your hell! And stay there!"
The devil got very angry. He vanished into the ground and left a very big and stinking cloud behind. The cloud covered the sun for two days and from this time on this place was called "the darkpit."

+) An "Alm" is a mountain meadow with a shack where the animals are during the summer

Written by: Hannes Gruber



The Devil in Love
Once upon a time the devil went to the pretty girl Liesl disguised as a farmerboy. Suddenly Liesl’s boyfriend came to her window and saw the strange boy. He asked: " Who is that boy?" Liesl had a shock and her friend went away angrily.
Now the devil came to her every night. She was scared about it and went to the priest. She told him about the strange boy and the priest said: "Ask him what you can do when a cow is possessed by the devil." When the stranger came again she asked him the question. He said that she should put 3 special herbs into the cow´s hair. Liesl put the herbs into her own hair and when the stranger came the next time and saw that, he ran away and did not come back any more.

Written by: Marion Neumann



The Kidnapped Child
In the old times there was a very nasty child. It was the daughter of a farmer family. One day her mother said to the farm labourer: "Dress up as a Perchtl*) and wait in front of the kitchen window. I want to scare my nasty daughter."
10 minutes later an old woman stood in front of the window and the farmer’s wife gave her the child. But the old woman in front of the window was not the disguised labourer. It was the real Perchtl. She flew away with the poor child .
After a while the disguised farm labouror came. The mother had a shock when she saw him and ran out of the house. She wanted to find her poor child again but she couldn’t find her any more. She only found a piece of the child‘s dress.

*) a Perchtl is an old ugly woman, some people say she is a witch

written by: Marion Neumann

The Robber´s Cave
The village of St. Margarethen
A long time ago there was a robber. This robber lived in St. Margarethen. He worked very hard during he day, but in he night he did his nuisance. Nobody could find out who he was. The robber stole chicken and sheep from farmhouses and after midnight he roasted and ate them in a secret place.
One day the Besenbinder *) Sepp went to the Kerschaggl-meadow. He saw a little tree. The tree was new in this place, and he wanted to tear it out and make a broomstick. He could tear it out very easily. Sepp noticed that there were some loose stones under the ground and took them off. Suddenly he saw a corridor under the ground. He went in and after some time Sepp could see the rest of a roasted sheep. He had found the robber’s cave. But the robber did not come back to his cave any more.

*) broom-maker
written by: Vanessa Krznar

The

The Schwarzenberg

The Schwarzenberg ( black mountain ) is a mountain in the middle of the Lungau. People say that witches lived in the mountain in the old times. At midnight the witches came out of their caves. They wore long and white robes and danced on the wonderful fullmoonmeadow. Only children could hear the music of the witches. All night long the witches danced, whispered, laughed and spoke very quietly.
Near the meadow where the witches danced was the castle of Moosham. It looked like the castle on the hill next to the meadow looked down with its dark windows on the witches' golden hair. But what could the castle do against the witches? Nothing! The dancing-place of the witches was called "Rader Tanzhügel". ( dancing hill )
On that hill the snow did not stay very long in winter. People said that was because the witches danced the snow away.

Written by: Michael Winkler



The Sign

A long time ago in a full moon night a farmerboy woke up.
Suddenly the door opened and his schoolfriend was standing in his room.
His schoolfriend? No, it couldn‘ t be!
He had to be at home at night. The boy fell asleep again.
In the morning he asked his family, but they said that nobody had been in his room that night.
When they sat at the breakfast table, a message came from the neigbourhood. It said that the boy’s friend had died in the night. Now the farmerboy knew, that his friend had sent him one last sign that night.

written by: Andrea Bogensperger

The Weather-Witch

A long time ago people of St. Margarethen believed that the old woman Mrs. Kerschhaggl was a witch .

One day the priest heard about that and wanted to make a better person of her . The woman did not like the idea and went away.

In the next summer she was a Sennerin *) on an Alm +) in the mountains high above St. Margarethen. One day a heavy thunderstorm with hail came over a part of the village. It was the part of the village where the priest had his house. All the plants and flowers in the priest‘s garden were broken down. He went out into the garden and saw the disaster. On one flower he could see the hair of a woman. After that he knew that the Sennerin on the Alm was a weather-witch.

+) An "Alm" is a mountain meadow with a shack where the animals are during the summer

*) A "Sennerin" is a woman . In the summer she lives on an "Alm" in the mountains and takes care of the animals..

written by: Corinna Gappmayr

The Aineck

The village of St. Michael (where our school is)

Near St. Michael and St. Margarethen there is a mountain called "Aineck" (English: "Onetop"). But the old people say that there were two mountains in the old times, and that the mountains were called "Zweieck" ("Twotop"). This is the tale how the Zweieck became the Aineck.

The farmers around the Zweieck had to go a very long way to get to the church.

One day the devil came to the farmers and said: „I have your priest, but you can come to my church now. It is much nearer". The farmers agreed because they did not want to go the long way. So the farmers went to the devil's church.

After a while they began to quarrel and to fight because they didn’t observe the Ten Commandments any more. So a woman went to another priest and asked him for help. The priest went to the devil with the woman. The devil stood on one top of the Zweieck. The priest sprinkled a glass af holy water at the devil. The devil made a terrible noise and flew into the air with one half of the Zweieck and did not come back again. Now the Zweieck had only one top and is called Aineck today.

Written by: Steffi Moser