Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Little Rock Man, Stone Man of the Moselle
Category: River dweller
The Myth
In earlier times, a malicious spirit known as the Steipmännchen lived near Ehnen along the Moselle. He delighted in teasing the boatmen who traveled the river and in playing tricks on them.
On stormy nights he was said to sail a half-boat near the Ehnen weir, splashing loudly with oar and pole while crying out again and again, “Help, help, or I will perish!” If a compassionate boatman rowed toward the dangerous place to rescue him, he found no one in need. Instead, the Steipmännchen laughed and clapped from the rocky bank. Should the boatman grow angry and curse him, the spirit might capsize the boat, leaving the man to struggle in the cold water.
At other times the little being would call from the ferry on the opposite shore, begging to be taken across. When a boatman came to fetch the supposed traveler, he was met only by mocking laughter. As soon as he returned home, the drawn-out cry of “Carry me over!” would sound again from the nearby Braas forest.
People also told that at the witching hour a boat was often heard on the Moselle traveling up from Wormeldingen as far as the statue of Saint Nicholas. There it could go no farther and would suddenly turn back downstream, only to return again and again until the hour had passed. No one ever saw the Steipmännchen himself, but many claimed to have heard his ghostly passage upon the river.
Gallery
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Das Steipmännchen bei Ehnen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Steipmaennchen.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