Christmas Fairy Tales & Stories

Christmas Fairy Tales & Stories
Fairy Tales to Warm Heart and Soul

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Grimm's Saga No. 349: The Virgin Mary and the Larch Branch

Translation: Copyright FairyTaleChannel.com
Please read and enjoy, do not plagiarize, copy or pilfer.
Thanks!


Image of Mercy in the Larch Branch at Waldrast

In 1392 Our Lady in Heaven sent an angel to Tirol, at the place called Waldrast on Serlesberg. The angel stepped before a hollow larch tree and spoke to it in the name of God’s Mother: You, branch, shall bear fruit of the image of our Lady in Heaven!” 


The image grew into the branch and two pious shepherd boys, Hänsle and Peterle from Mizens village, first gazed upon it in the year 1407. In wonder, they ran down to the farmers in the valley below and told them: “Go up to the mountain, a wonderful image is revealed in the hollow wood. We hardly trust ourselves to touch it.” 

The holy image was now recognized and cut out of the branch with a saw and brought to Matrey. There it stood until a separate church could be built for it at Waldrast. Our Lady entrusted the work to a poor woodcutter who lived near Matrey. One Pentecost when he was lying in his bed at night and slept, a voice came to him. It spoke three times and said: “Are you sleeping or are you awake?” And the third time he woke up and asked: “Who are you and what do you want?” 

The voice spoke: “You shall build a chapel to honor Our Lady at Waldrast.” The woodcutter replied: “I don’t want to do that.” But the voice returned on the second eve of Pentecost and spoke to him in the same manner as before. He replied “I am too poor to do it.” The voice returned on the Third Eve of Pentecost as he lay in his bed and spoke as before. For three nights he could not sleep for worry and finally he answered the voice: “Why will you not leave me alone?” The voice replied “You shall do it!” He answered “I shall not do it!” 

It grabbed him and raised him in the air and said: “You shall do it and it would be good for you to reconsider!” He thought to himself: I am a poor man, how can I do the right thing? Finally he consented and said he would do it, if he only knew the correct site. The voice spoke “In the forest there is a green spot in the moss. Lay down and rest and the proper site will be revealed to you.” 

The woodcutter went out and lay down on the moss and rested (that is why the place is called the Resting Place in the Wood, or Waldrast). When he lay asleep, he heard two bells in his sleep. He awoke and looked up at the spot where the church now stands. A woman in white robes stood and had a babe on her arm but he saw only a glimpse. He thought to himself: Almighty God, this is certainly the right place! And he went to the spot where he had seen the picture and marked off where he meant to build Her church. The bells rang until he had finished marking the spot and then he did not hear them any more. 

He spoke: “Dear God, how can I accomplish this? I am poor and have no money to spend on such a building.” The voice spoke again: “Go to pious people; they will give you as much as you need. And when the time comes to bless the church, it will stand in peace for 36 years. After this, great signs will be revealed for all eternity.” And so, when he began construction of the chapel he went to his confessor and told him his intentions. The priest sent him to the Bishop of Brixen. He visited the Bishop in Brixen five times before he was allowed to start building the chapel. The bishop did this on the Tuesday before St. Pankratius in the year 1409. (St. Pankratius is a so-called Ice Saint and his feast day is May 12. Other Ice Saints include St. Servatius, St. Bonifatius (Boniface) and St. Sophie).



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Three Legends of the Virgin Mary: Maria Stein


Translation: Copyright FairyTaleChannel.org
Please read and enjoy, do not plagiarize, copy or pilfer.
Thanks!

In the Swiss canton of Basel high above the village of Ettlingen there once stood mighty castle called Fuerstenstein. At the time, one of the most upright and decent men of that name lived there, the Knight Hans von Rothberg. He was known throughout the land for his good and noble deeds.

One day the knight rode out to the city of Basel to visit friends. Before he left he devoutly commended both his wife and children to the protection of God.

Because it was a beautiful day, the lady of the castle left the peace and quietude of the castle and took her little daughter for a little walk around the castle walls. Wandering a bit with the child on the green meadow, the two had a good view of the heights surrounding them. When the mother found a bit of shade under tall trees, she sat down amongst some ferns, a bit tired and sleepy from the thousand different aromas emanating from the woods and fields. With sinking eyes she gazed upon the zig-zagging flight of the butterflies. The humming of bees and chirping of crickets had a calming effect and the lady found herself nodding off from time to time. This was punctuated by the laughter of the girl when she brought a basket full of alpine flowers to show her mother. In her search for flowers, the girl was drawn farther and farther away and climbed into some brush that stood at the far end of the field.

All at once the mother sat up abruptly. A terrible cry came from the direction of the brush. The lady rushed toward the sound and fell to her knees. Not a trace of her daughter was seen. She must have fallen through the brush and down the cliff. But the mother gathered her strength and called her child’s name a hundred times. But it was all for naught, there was no reply.

She hurried as fast her feet could carry her to the path leading into the valley. Breathless and with her hair flowing wildly around her shoulders, she arrived below.

But suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. What did she see but her child, whom she believed had been smashed to bits from the fall. The girl ran toward her beaming and her little basket was full of strawberries. She called “Mother, Mother, here I am!” But the mother was speechless. With her heart beating wildly, she pressed the child to her breast. She looked up at the jagged rock and could not believe that her daughter had survived the horrible fall. She tried to regain her composure as the child told her what had happened. As the mother slept, she ventured out too far because she could not see through the brush how precarious the spot was. All at once the ground vanished under her feet and she fell. Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared, took her in her arms and gently brought her to the valley below. Afterward they picked the strawberries that were now in her basket, which they would now bring to father.

Now the mother knew that it was the Virgin Mary who had saved her daughter. They went home and the rejoicing mother told the returning father what had transpired. The father was so moved by this miracle that he had a chapel built at the site. Later they built the convent Maria Stein.
In this saga, the Virgin Mary shows the best way to protect oneself against a snake.

Grimm’s Saga No. 10 The hazel branch
One afternoon the Christ Child lay down in his cradle and when he was asleep, his mother come and watched him full of joy. She spoke “Have you fallen asleep, my child? Sleep softly, I want to go into the forest and pick a handful of strawberries for you; I know you will enjoy them when you wake up.” Outside in the wood she found a place with the most beautiful strawberries. When she bent over to pick them, an adder jumped up out of the grass. She was startled, left the berries and hurried away. The adder shot after her, but the Mother of God, as you can well imagine, knew what to do and hid behind a hazel bush and stayed there until the adder had slithered away. She then went back to collect the berries and when she was on her way home, she spoke “As the hazel bush has been my protection now, so shall it protect others in the future.” For this reason since ancient times a green hazel branch is the most certain protection against adders, snakes, vipers and everything else that creeps on the earth.