The Witch and Her Lover in Deurne

A young man noticed that his girlfriend disappeared every Sunday. Curious, he asked if he could follow her once. The woman agreed with a mysterious smile. "You must stand on the tips of my feet," she said, "and if anyone asks where you’re going, you say: Over a coat rack."

As soon as they took flight and the words "To Cologne in the wine cellar" were spoken, the earthly world disappeared beneath them. They landed in a deep cellar where hundreds of figures danced. Music echoed, wine flowed freely, and the party was wilder and louder than anything the young man had ever seen. He drank far too much of the enchanted draught.

The next morning everything had vanished. The young man went to his village church and confessed to the priest, but dared not tell everything for fear of curses. That same evening he was taken to the ball again, now more careful with drinking. On the way home, he couldn’t jump across the stream—the bridge had disappeared. The next morning he found the bridge neatly replaced, laid by his mysterious girlfriend.