Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative Names: –
Category: House dweller
The Myth
The Little Mother is a mysterious old woman who appears in the spinning rooms of Dornbirn, in Vorarlberg, Austria. She has a haggard face that sometimes seems gentle and sweet, yet also carries an expression of deep sorrow. Every evening, she enters a room where neighbours gather to spin, sit in a back corner with her spinning wheel, and work silently until the others leave. Although nobody knows who she is, the villagers allow her to come and go without questioning her presence.
For three years, the old woman attends these gatherings without speaking or joining in the conversation. While the other women spin and the men smoke their pipes, she continues her work in silence. Eventually, a thoughtful young man notices something unusual about her spinning: she always turns her wheel to the left. When he asks her about it, her face brightens with a smile, and she gestures for him to follow her outside.
The two walk through fields and meadows beneath the night sky until they reach a solitary bush. There, the old woman explains that she has spun in this unusual way for many years, and that the young man is the first person to notice. His observation has brought her good fortune, and she promises him a reward. She instructs him to dig beneath the bush the following morning, telling him that whatever he finds will rightfully belong to him. Having spoken, she vanishes into the night.
The next morning, the young man digs at the indicated spot and discovers a pot filled with coins. The treasure brings him lasting prosperity, and he eventually dies in old age as the richest farmer in the village. The legend suggests that the Little Mother’s mysterious spinning was connected to an unresolved misfortune from her own life. The original account speculates that the problem may have originated when she was young and attended social gatherings where not everything was entirely proper, though it does not explain the exact nature of her burden.
Sources
“Die Spinnstube.” SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/vorarlberg/rheintal/spinnstube.html