Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative Names: Fox of Reutte
Category: Fox
The Myth
The Reutte Fox is a mysterious creature from the legends of the Tyrolean town of Reutte, appearing at first as an ordinary fox but displaying supernatural powers that reveal its true nature. Hunters who encounter it may shoot at the animal repeatedly without causing it any apparent harm. The fox can even mock its pursuers by standing upright and making a little bow, as though deliberately challenging them to continue shooting. Ordinary bullets seem powerless against it, and the creature only reacts when a hunter uses a blessed object or a special projectile made from a rosary.
In one tale, several hunters from Reutte went fox hunting near the Gurt, between Reutte and Heiterwang. Before setting out, they placed something blessed inside their gunstocks. After waiting for some time, they spotted a fox and fired at it. The animal fell but quickly rose again and fled. As the hunters followed its tracks through the snow, they noticed that the footprints gradually grew larger until they resembled human footprints, eventually revealing the marks of slippers. The trail led them to a house in the upper market of Reutte, where an old woman lay in bed with a gunshot wound.
Another story tells of an old hunter named Hauser from Betzigau who pursued a fox that repeatedly ran ahead of him, stopping to make little bows. He fired at it several times, but each shot failed to harm the animal. Suspecting that it was no ordinary fox, he took out his rosary, cut its string, and used one of its beads in place of a bullet. This time, the fox recoiled and fled, leaving a trail of blood behind it. The hunter followed the tracks to a house, where he was told that the mother of the household was lying in bed with a badly injured foot. Both tales suggest that the fox was a witch or a human transformed into an animal, whose wounds in fox form were reflected on the human body.
Sources
“Die Hexe als Fuchs.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus Deutschland (Bayern, Allgäu). Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/deutschland/bayern/allgaeu/hexe_fuchs.html