Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtelcher of Wischteschberg, Trintingen Gnomes
Category: Gnome
The Myth
On the Wischteschberg hill between Ersingen and Medingen, little beings known as the Wichtelcher once lived in underground dwellings. They were said to be only one to one and a half feet tall.
During the winter nights, they often went to Medingen and quietly threshed the grain for the villagers in their barns. When their work was finished, each of them took a small bag of grain back to his underground home.
One day, a man was plowing on the hill directly above the place where the Wichtelcher lived. As he worked, he heard noises from below, for the gnomes were baking bread. He heard their children calling out, “Bake me flax too!” Soon the Wichtelcher themselves were shouting from all sides, “Me too flax! Me too flax!”
Unable to resist, the man called down from above, “Me too flax!”
At midday he unharnessed his plow, and when he returned in the afternoon, he found a thick layer of flax lying upon it.
In winter the gnomes also often came to the Pleitringer farm to thresh grain for the people. Wanting to show their gratitude, the inhabitants once had clothes made for the little folk and hung them in the barn so the gnomes could take them.
But when the Wichtelcher came that night and saw the garments, they realized that their presence had been discovered. They hurried away and never returned again.
Gallery
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die Wichtlein bei Trintingen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Trintingen.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Gnome of Wischteschberg