The little bride of the Schieren meadow

Below Moersdorf on the Sauer lie the Schieren meadow and the Kahlenberg, with a brook running between them. The Kahlenberg is a grim place: out of bare masses of rock along the Sauer, which flows hard against them, rises a dense beech wood. When the water is high the foaming waves break on that stone with a loud roar.

At this spot a princess was once to cross the Sauer with her bridegroom, and the river was then swollen high. Not far from the bank the little ship, richly laden with treasure, was caught by the surge of water, driven about like a nutshell by wind and waves, and then sank into the depths of the river.

The legend says this was a punishment from God, for during the crossing the princess had thought neither of God nor of her husband, but had feasted her eyes on the gleam of the gold, and a plan of faithlessness had long since ripened in her heart. Now, on the day of her betrothal, the punishment had overtaken her.

From that time on she must walk for ever as a ghost in the rocks, on the meadow and on the Sauer.

In the rocks she usually appears in the dark of night at the witching hour, seated in a fiery red coach; she holds the reins in her hands and drives her raven-black horses. Sighing and lamenting she races along, sometimes uttering a cry so dreadful that the wood echoes with it and cold horror seizes the belated traveller.

On the meadow she walks as a bride in a long, shining veil. She listens for wanderers and looks for her husband, and so she appears in all her beauty.

On the Sauer the fishermen have seen the bride combing her hair and washing her clothes; at midnight they often heard a rumbling as if the whole Sauer were in uproar, and then, it is said, the little bride of Schieren is searching for her boat and her treasure.

Once some pious pilgrims who had been to the dancing procession at Echternach were returning by night in their boat to Wasserbillig. As they passed below Moersdorf at the place called Schieren, they suddenly saw in the moonlight, on the Schieren meadow, a tall and noble figure in dazzling white, who had just put her long flowing locks in order. One of the pilgrims made bold to call out to the figure to come into the boat. And behold, she stepped to the bank and seemed to walk on the surface of the water. So she followed the pilgrims a long while without a sound. The man wanted to steer the boat to the bank, but the others forbade him and said he had better swim ashore to the figure himself. He fell silent; but then a roaring and a din rose up in the Sauer, so that the pilgrims began to pray in fear. Still the figure floated along with the boat as far as the country of Langsur. There she turned, walked up through the vineyards, struck a bright, glorious ring of light, and vanished from the eyes of the boatmen.

In recent times the little bride of Schieren is said to have been redeemed by a young man from the Prussian side. He came from Wasserbillig to Mompach and the surrounding villages looking for a position.

Before he reached the Heerendriesch he had to pass a mighty oak under which the field workers often took their midday rest. Beneath it he saw a lovely maiden sitting, with a neat little basket beside her. He greeted her, but she did not thank him. He asked whether she would not come along with him. Again no answer. He supposed that she too was looking for a position, and said: if you are seeking a place, come with me, for I am on the road for the same reason. When he got no answer this time either, he said: if you will not answer, I shall go my own way. And he made ready to leave.

But behold, the maiden rises and goes with him as far as the Heerendriesch. There the young man turns round once more and asks what she desires. Three times to Girst and once to Klausen and a mass at Girst, was the answer, and then she was gone.

Now the young man understood that it was a poor soul awaiting redemption. He carried out the errand, went three times to Girst and once to Klausen, had a holy mass read at Girst as well and attended it himself. During the mass a white dove is said to have flown up behind the altar and away towards heaven. That was the sign that the little bride of Schieren was redeemed.