Legendary Dolomites and South Tyrol
King Laurin
Kingdom of King Laurin
Legend of King Laurin
Kingdom of King Laurin
The Dolomites are the kingdom of the magicians, the kings and the powerful. Follow us on a journey of interesting stories and myths through South Tyrol:
King Laurin and his Rose Garden
Once-upon-a-time a dwarf king called Laurin lived inside the Rosengarten mountain. He owned immense riches. Above all he had a magic hood which could make him invisible. There was a magnificent garden in front of the gateway to his bastion of rock, where myriads of roses were in flower all year round, enclosed by a golden thread of silk. Woe betide anybody who dared pick even one rose!One day he caught sight of the stunningly beautiful princess Simhild in a neighbouring castle. He fell in love with her and snatched her away. From then on Simhild was forced to live in Laurin's kingdom, and there was nothing but sorrow at the castle of her brother, Dietleib. While he was searching for his sister Dietlieb came across the king of the Goths, Dietrich von Bern. With him and other knights he made his way to Laurin's kingdom. Dietrich marvelled at the magnificence of the roses fenced round by a thread of gold, though his men broke it and trampled on the flowers. Beside himself with rage, Laurin came charging at them on his small white steed. It came to an unequal fight. However, once the knights had pulled off his magic hood Laurin fell to the ground helpless and shouted incensed: "The roses have betrayed me!" Left with no option he led the victors into his fortress where they freed Simhild.
Laurin uttered a curse on the rose garden and its beauty was extinguished for ever. He pronounced that nobody, neither by night nor by day, should ever again cast his eyes on the rose garden's magical splendour. But he forgot to include the twilight. And that is why the mountain which is pale during the day still lights up and glows red as the sun sets.
The earth pyramides in Steinegg
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful and profitable meadow that belonged to the church and was cultivated throughout many generations by the „Dosserbauer“ (farmer) famliy. When, after several requests, the farmer refused to pay the rent for the meadow, the Steinegg court had to make a decision on the matter. As there were no authentic documents in existence and the Dosserbauer took an oath against his better knowledge, the meadow was attributed to him. The priest was very sad, but the Dosserbauer was proud of himself. However, on the same day, dark clouds brew on the horizon and changed daylight into night. Everybody knew that something terrible was going to happen. Suddenly, heavy rain lashed down, lightning and thunder rolled in such a way that had never been seen before in Steinegg. Only when the sun rose, the thunderstorm stopped. And when the Dosserbauer went to cut the grass of his meadow, he could not believe his eyes: In front of him, he found a deep chasm from which emerged only a few piles of earth. God had spoken His judgment, and in a different way than the people had possibly imagined.The gigant "Starkwölfl" and the dragon
A long time ago, our valley was a very prosperous area with grain fields and vineyards. But one day a terrible dragon from Trento came to our woods and destroyed the whole region by poisoning it with ist foul breath. The giant Starkwölfl decided to put an end to this terrible situation by killing the dragon. He went into the woods and found the cavity where the dragon lived. Starkwölfl prepared a pail of fresh milk and waited until the monster came out. As soon as the dragon came out of ist cavity, Starkwölfl took a big stone and hit the dragon on the head. Its black blood flew into the River Adige. After that, the people of Nova Ponente could happily go on with their daily life as before.The mermaid of Lake Carezza
Many years ago, Lake Carezza was the home of a beautiful mermaid. One day, the wizard of Masaré heard her singing and immediately fell in love with her. He used all his power to conquer the mermaid’s heart but did not succeed. Therefore, the wizard asked the witch Langwerda for help. Langwerda advised him to dress as a jeweller and to create a rainbow running from the Catinaccio to the Latemar. Then he should go back to Lake Carezza, entice the mermaid and kidnap her. The wizard followed the witch’s advice but forgot to disguise himself. The mermaid admired the colourful rainbow and the glittering gems but realised very quickly that the wizard was approaching and dived into Lake Carezza. Since then, she has never been seen again. The lovesick wizard destroyed the rainbow, shattered it into pieces and threw all its parts into the lake, together with the gemstones. For this reason, Lake Carezza still shimmers in all the wonderful colours of the rainbow.The Latemar dolls
A long time ago, a few shepherds´ children met an old man on the Latemar. He told them he had lost his knife, but nobody had seen the knife and the old man went away. A few hours later, Minega, the youngest of the children, found a golden knife in the meadow. She returned it to the man who said: „I’m very happy and I will fulfill you a wish!“ Minega said she wanted a doll. Later on, she met an strange woman and told her what had happened. The woman shouted: „ You are a lucky girl, the old man is very rich! He has got dolls dressed in silk, but also those ornated with pearls and gold crowns. If tomorrow he brings you the ones with silk dresses, you must ask for the other ones which are more precious!“ The day after, heaven opened and wonderful dolls in silk dresses came out. Minega said: „I do not want these dolls, I want the more precious ones!“ Suddenly all the dolls turned into stone. Until today we can admire the stone dolls on the Latemar.
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