Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Penitent Women of Hüfifirn
Category: Ghost
The Myth
On the Hüfifirn glacier in the Maderanertal valley, a hunter encountered two mysterious women trapped in the ice, each enduring a different stage of supernatural punishment. The first woman was frozen up to her neck in the glacier, yet she sang beautifully, seemingly filled with joy despite her terrible confinement. Further along the ice, the hunter discovered another woman whose feet were frozen in place. Unlike the first, she wept bitterly, overwhelmed by her suffering.
Puzzled by their contrasting reactions, the hunter gathered his courage and asked the weeping woman why she mourned while the other woman, trapped almost entirely beneath the ice, sang so merrily. The second woman explained that their suffering marked different stages of their penance. Her own torment was only beginning, and she still had to sink completely into the ice before she could be redeemed. The other woman, by contrast, was approaching the end of her punishment and would soon be released.
The two women were therefore condemned to endure the glacier’s icy embrace until their respective periods of penance were complete. Their strange encounter revealed that suffering could be a sign of approaching redemption, and that even the most terrible punishment might eventually come to an end.
Sources
“Die büßenden Seelen.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus der Schweiz (Uri). Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/uri/diebuessendenseelen.html