Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Vichten Dwarves, Vichten Gnomes
Category: Gnome
The Myth
In Vichten, people once said the dwellings of the gnomes could still be seen. They appeared as small underground chambers or little wells beneath the ground. One man, believing he had discovered a hidden treasure, began digging in his garden and uncovered one of these untouched underground rooms. It was said that little gnomes had lived there, beings who were known only for doing good to humans.
Not long ago, there lived in Vichten a man who, as a child, had been cared for by the gnomes themselves. On Sunday mornings, when his family went to church, the little folk would quietly enter the house, rock the child in his cradle, and feed the horses and cows in the stable.
Another farmer, while plowing his field, once heard the sound of kitchen utensils clattering beneath the soil. Laughing, he called out, “Hey, bake me a cake too!” When he turned his plow and passed the place again, he found a small cake lying on a clean cloth spread on the ground, which he ate with pleasure.
It was also said that near Vichten, along the road to Bissen where old ruins stand, there had once been the palace of the dwarves, and that Vichten itself had been their capital. There ruled a king named Shaddaï, who governed the dwarven people peacefully until a rebellion broke out among them and cost him his life.
Other dwarves were believed to live in underground tunnels beneath the Scheuerbusch. They were said to be extremely rich, so wealthy that they fed gold to their mice, and some claimed to have seen the animals running about gnawing on gold coins.
The dwarves of Vichten were considered richer than all the rest. One of them once boasted to a dwarf beneath the Scheuerburg castle in the Scheuerbusch forest, saying, “If you plow your fields with silver plowshares, then we plow ours with golden ones.” Among their privileges, the Vichten dwarves were also said to have the right to demand from a certain house in the village an entire oven of bread cake every Saturday.
Gallery
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die Wichtelcher zu Vichten. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Vichten.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 Vichten