Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternative names: Greif; Vogel Greif
Category: Bird
The Myth
Near the village of Bous, beside the road leading to Stadtbredimus, lies a field known as Neckelswuos, a place long feared for its supernatural happenings. Travelers tell of phantom pigs racing through wagon wheels, a ghostly sow followed by seven piglets, a floating skull, a woman clothed only by her long hair, and a great black dog haunting the area.
One night, around midnight, a blacksmith from Stadtbredimus passed through Neckelswuos. As he traveled along the road, he suddenly saw an enormous bird-like creature hovering above him. The being was so vast that its body covered the entire width of the road, while the tips of its wings stretched far into the fields on both sides. Terrified, the blacksmith believed it to be a Greif or perhaps a dragon, and fled from the place in panic.
Sources
La Fontaine, E. de. (1882). Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Jos. Beffort. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://archive.org/details/luxemburgersagen00lafouoft