Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Rent
Category: Dwarf
The Myth
Beneath the gloomy Giswil mountain in Unterwalden lies the beautiful alpine pasture of Iwi, covered throughout the summer with mountain flowers. One day, a prosperous farmer brought his herd of thirty cows up to the pasture. While he was preparing to milk them, a strange little man emerged from the Giswil Stock. He had a long white beard, an ancient face, and old-fashioned clothing. The little man politely asked the farmer to lease him a cow for the summer. The farmer was reluctant, but remembered a thin, sickly cow from Uri that he expected would soon die anyway. He agreed to give it to the little man, provided that both the cow and its rent were returned on Michaelmas. The farmer even wanted to remove the cow’s bell, but finally allowed the little man to take it as well. He watched the strange figure disappear up the mountain with the scrawny animal, convinced he would never see either of them again.
Yet the little cow did not die. Later that summer the farmer spotted it grazing high among the steep chamois pastures of the Giswil mountain, apparently thriving where he thought only chamois could safely graze. Meanwhile, the farmer’s own herd prospered wonderfully. His cows became strong, plump, and glossy, while the cattle of his neighbors suffered from sickness and became thin and bristly. When Michaelmas arrived and the farmer had returned to the lower Iwi pasture, he suddenly heard the beautiful ringing of a cowbell. The little mountain man came walking toward him with a magnificent cow whose coat shone like silk and whose back was perfectly straight. He reminded the farmer that this was the cow he had taken for the summer and asked how much rent he now owed. The farmer could hardly believe that the splendid animal was the same miserable cow he had given away in spring. Astonished, he refused to demand any payment and even offered another cow for the following summer. But the little man said he had no need of another, for he now possessed enough milk and cheese for the rest of his life.
Instead, the little man handed the farmer a small piece of roasted cheese as the rent for the cow. He warned him never to eat it all, because it would always replenish itself. The farmer laughed in disbelief, but the little man exclaimed, “Thio and liog!”—“Do it, and then you’ll see!”—and vanished, running nimbly up the Giswil Stock like a little spider. That evening the farmer and his wife tasted the cheese and found it extraordinarily delicious. Whenever they ate some, the piece became whole again, exactly as it had been before. They shared it with their neighbors, and the miraculous cheese continued to replenish itself for about two years. But eventually the farmer had a tailor and a shoemaker working in his house at the same time. He served them the enchanted cheese for supper, and they enjoyed it so much that, while the farmer was not looking, they ate the entire piece. The magic immediately failed, and no matter how much the farmer scolded them, the cheese would never grow back again.
Sources
“Lehenzins.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus der Schweiz. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/lehenzins.html