Tradition: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternative Names: The Little Man of the Geldfeuer
Category: Dwarf
The Myth
A small, thin man sits beside a mysterious fire burning on a meadow near a house in Straßen. He quietly tends the glowing embers while the fire burns continuously through the night. His connection with the supernatural fire is revealed when a poor servant girl approaches him looking for coals to relight the dead hearth in her master’s house.
The girl has been working for a farmer and is forced to rise around midnight to bake bread. Finding that there is no spark left in the kitchen hearth, she notices the strange fire burning on the nearby meadow. She takes a shovel and approaches the little man, politely asking whether she may take some of his glowing coals. He allows her to do so.
But when she carries the first shovel of coals back to the house and places them on the hearth, they immediately go out. The same thing happens with a second shovel. When she returns for a third load, the little man finally speaks. He tells her that she has now received her share of the inheritance from her uncle and warns her not to return.
Terrified, the girl carries the third load home. Once again the coals appear to die on the hearth. Yet when she lights the fire, she notices something glowing among the ashes. There, instead of ordinary coal, lies a pile of gold coins.
The girl wakes the farmer and his wife and tells them what happened. They call the local pastor, who advises them to bury the enchanted money seven fathoms deep in the earth at the place where the mysterious coal fire had once burned. They follow his advice and hide the gold beneath the meadow.
The supernatural fire, however, does not disappear. Even afterward, people occasionally see it burning on the meadow during the night. No one dares approach it or take its coals anymore.
Sources
La Fontaine, Edmond de. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxemburg: Jos. Beffort, 1882. 187 pp.