Tradition: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternative Names: –
Category: Flame
The Myth
Die Goldkohlen zu Bayern, meaning the Golden Coals of Bayern, is a legend about a mysterious fire burning in a field near a farmhouse. The fire is tended by three unknown men who sit silently around the flames. To anyone who sees it, the fire appears to offer ordinary glowing coals, but its true nature is revealed only through a strange encounter with a servant girl.
One early morning, while it was still dark, a maid from Bayern went outside to gather fire so she could cook soup. Seeing the flames burning in a nearby field, she approached the three men and filled a pot with glowing coals to take back to the house. Yet when she placed the coals on the hearth, they immediately went out. She returned to the field and tried again, but the second pot of coals also extinguished as soon as she brought it home. When she came for a third pot, one of the previously silent men finally spoke, warning her, “Now you need not come again.”
The third batch of coals also went out on the hearth. Frightened by the strange events and the man’s warning, the maid told the farmer and his wife what had happened. They sent her back to bed, then went into the kitchen themselves. There, instead of extinguished coals, they discovered a large quantity of gold coins lying on the hearth. The farmer and his wife kept the treasure for themselves, while the maid’s strange encounter with the silent men had unknowingly led them to a hidden fortune.
Sources
La Fontaine, Edmond de. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxemburg: Jos. Beffort, 1882.