Luxembourgish Mythology

Burggruef Gnome

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtel
Category: Gnome, House dweller

The Myth

In the town of Grevenmacher, people once believed that small gnomes lived in the Burggruef, the old castle moat. These beings were not hidden enemies or frightening spirits, but friendly little folk who moved easily between their own hidden dwelling and the world of humans.

The gnomes were said to walk openly among the townspeople, helping where they could and bringing quiet good fortune. Unlike many other little folk, they were not feared or avoided. Instead, they were loved, welcomed, and spoken of with warmth. Their presence was believed to bring harmony to the town, as if the land itself was content.

Over time, the gnomes of the Burggruef faded from sight. Whether they withdrew deeper into the earth or simply left when belief in them waned was never known. Yet the memory remained: that once, in the castle moat of Grevenmacher, small hidden beings lived close to humanity, and for a time, both worlds shared the same ground in peace.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtlein (Grevenmacher). In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Grevenmacher.html

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Eisenbach Gnome

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtelcher of Eisenbach
Category: Gnome

The Myth

In the time before the land around Eisenbach was cultivated, when forest and wilderness covered everything, the area was said to be inhabited by the Wichtelcher. These little people were no more than a foot and a half tall, yet they were skilled and diligent beyond their size.

They lived beneath the ground in underground chambers, carved and arranged by their own hardworking hands. Stone walls and rooms formed their dwellings, shaped into homes that mirrored those of humans, only smaller and hidden from sight. Though they kept themselves unseen, their presence was known through the order and care of the spaces they built.

As the land was cleared and fields were formed, the Wichtelcher withdrew, sinking back into the earth or leaving the area altogether. Yet they did not vanish without a trace. Remains of stonework were said to still be visible in certain places, fragments of their underground homes exposed where the soil had shifted or been cut away.

These stones served as quiet proof, for those who believed, that before human hands shaped Eisenbach, the Little Ones had already lived and labored beneath its ground.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtlein (Eisenbach). In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Eisenbach.html

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Wahlhausen Gnome

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtelcher of op dem Heidenhäuschen
Category: Gnome, Cave dweller

The Myth

Near Wahlhausen, on a mountain whose foot meets the Ur River, there is a place known as op dem Heidenhäuschen. Long ago, people believed this hill was not solid earth alone, but hollowed beneath by an underground dwelling.

Within that hidden space lived very small people, the Wichtelcher. They were said to inhabit rooms beneath the soil, sheltered from sight, living quietly below the fields. The place where they lived now lies under cultivated land, ploughed and walked upon, yet never entirely at rest.

Old villagers remembered that stone walls were once uncovered in the ground there—traces of something built, then buried again by time and soil. Even in more recent years, the land showed signs of what lay below. While people were working the rock nearby and paused to eat, the ground suddenly sank beneath them, dropping about the depth of a shoe, as if the earth itself had given way into a hollow space.

Such moments were taken as reminders that the Wichtelcher had not been a story alone. Though unseen, their former homes were believed to remain beneath the hill, fragile and empty now, but still capable of shifting the ground above. The place kept its quiet reputation, a reminder that beneath ordinary fields, the Little Ones were once said to live.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtlein (Wahlhausen). In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Wahlhausen.html

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Waldbillig Gnome

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtelcher of Belliger Seitert
Category: Gnome

The Myth

Near Waldbillig, in front of the Belliger Seitert forest, there lies a field once owned by Theodor Broos. Those who worked the land noticed strange things beneath the soil: carefully worked stones, set as if by deliberate hands, and an ash pit like the kind found in old farmhouses.

These discoveries stirred an old memory. The grandfather of the family had often said that this place was once the home of the Wichtelcher, little earth folk who lived hidden beneath the field. They were said to be no taller than one or two shoes, small enough to pass unseen, yet capable of shaping stone and arranging their dwellings with care.

The Wichtelcher were believed to live much like humans, with hearths, ashes, and shelters of their own, but all concealed underground. When the land was still quiet and lightly worked, they remained there. As time passed and the fields were turned more deeply, they withdrew, leaving behind only stones and traces of their former homes.

Though no one sees them now, the field is still spoken of with a certain respect. The worked stones and the ash pit are taken as signs that the little people once lived there, reminding those who know the story that the land around Waldbillig was not always empty beneath the surface.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtlein (Waldbillig). In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Waldbillig.html

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Wichtelchesleh Gnome

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtelcher of A Kungen
Category: Gnome

The Myth

Between Greisch and Tüntingen lies a meadow known as A Kungen, a quiet place bordered by stone and grass. In old times, the rocks there were believed to be inhabited by ancient male elves, small beings bound to the earth itself.

These beings were called the Wichtelchesleh, named after the stony ground in which they lived. They were never seen openly, yet their presence was known to those who worked the land. Stones would shift when no one touched them, and faint sounds were sometimes heard from within the rock, as if something small and living moved beneath the surface.

The Wichtelchesleh were thought to dwell deep inside the stones, emerging only when the meadow was empty and silent. Like many hidden folk, they avoided human eyes and withdrew if disturbed. Their world existed alongside the human one, separated by nothing more than a thin layer of earth and stone.

As fields were changed and the land grew busier, the Wichtelchesleh faded from memory. Yet the name of the place remains, a reminder that once, beneath the rocks of A Kungen, the Little Ones were believed to live.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtelcher (Greisch). In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/wichtelcher_Greisch.html

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Junglinster Gnome

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Wichtelcher, Heinzelmännchen
Category: Gnome, House dweller

The Myth

In the lands around Junglinster, small hidden folk known as the Wichtelcher were once said to live close to humans, though rarely seen by them. They dwelled not in houses, but in quiet places where field, forest, and village met: the forest of Echels between Gonderingen, Junglinster, and Burglinster; the field called Gêschelt near Gonderingen; and the marshy ground of Bruchlach near Junglinster.

The Wichtelcher were tireless workers. At night, when human voices faded and lamps went dark, they emerged to tend fields, repair tools, and set right what had been left unfinished. By morning, tasks were mysteriously complete, as if done by invisible hands. No thanks was spoken aloud, for gratitude shown too directly might drive them away.

They lived close to the earth, slipping easily between soil, roots, and stone. When the land was disturbed or their places cleared away, they vanished without complaint, retreating deeper into the ground or leaving the area altogether. No one ever saw them depart; one day the help simply stopped.

Even after they were gone, people remembered the Wichtelcher as quiet helpers of an older time, beings who worked alongside humanity without reward, bound to the forests and fields as long as those places remained whole.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtelcher (Junglinster). In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/wichtelcher_Junglinster.html

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Tillepetchesfel Gnomes

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternate Names: Gnomes of the Tillepetchesfels
Category: Gnome

The Myth

On the wooded slope above Schläderbach rises the Tillepetchesfels, a rocky outcrop long feared and avoided. In ancient times, people said the stone was not empty, but alive with hidden folk.

Within the rock lived gnomes, small earth-dwellers who shared the place with heathens of an older, forgotten age. They were rarely seen, yet their presence was felt: footsteps where no one walked, whispered sounds in the trees, and the sense of being watched by eyes that never showed themselves.

The gnomes were said to belong to the mountain itself. They moved through stone as easily as humans move through air, emerging only when the forest was quiet and retreating again into the rock before dawn. No one knew whether they guarded buried treasures, ancient rites, or simply the land itself.

Those who climbed the Tillepetchesfels without respect were said to return uneasy, confused, or ill at ease, as though the mountain had rejected them. For this reason, the people believed the gnomes still lingered there, bound to the stone, keeping the memory of the old world alive beneath moss, roots, and rock.

Gallery

Sources

SAGEN.at contributors. (n.d.). Wichtelcher. In SAGEN.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/wichtelcher.html

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