The Rhine Valley was long ago a swamp due to flooding. It appeared sinister to the locals and was said to be the abode of dragons. The mountains and forests were dark and dangerous. Wolves, bears and boars abounded and attacked unwary humans wandering the alpine slopes or stumbling through the festering swamps. Through the ages, the peasants of Liechtenstein worked their fields or herded the cows and sheep in the meadows, albeit with a nervous eye on the wilds surrounding them. When night fell they locked themselves up in stout farmhouses or castle keeps and huddled around their fireplaces and told stories of mysterious and dangerous creatures. Marauding dragons joined the wolves, bears, boars and other terrifying monsters.
A dragon once lived in the mountains above Mals in a series of caves called Dragon Holes. It lurked in a thicket in a swampy area below the village, often killing and eating local villagers and their cattle. When the villagers tried to placate it with a daily offering of a sheep, goat or calf the dragon just got hungrier. It was time to do something to stop its depredations. They tried to catch it with nets and kill it but the creature was too much for them. As a last resort they sought the help of Heaven, vowing they would build a chapel to the Virgin Mary if the dragon could be gotten rid of. Amazingly, the marauding beast was never seen again. The villagers accordingly built the chapel, which still exists to this day. A weather vane in the shape of a gilded dragon sits on top of its roof.
In the mountains above Vaduz lie the little hamlets of Gulfina and Silum. A dragon lived in a great cave, near the summit of the range, above the villages and terrorized the local inhabitants. This was a particularly ferocious beast, armored with large thick scales, eyes that glowed like hot coals, huge bat-like wings, a poisonous vapor pouring from its nostrils and a powerful tail. A giant that lived in the mountains finally killed it at the request of the villagers after a terrible battle. The giant was badly hurt but was nursed back to health by one of the local women.
Other dragons were said to live in the nearby mountains of Austria and Switzerland such as the dragon in the cave at Saint-Béat. Christophe Scheurer, a first magistrate of Swiss canton, reported seeing a dragon taking flight from a great rock called Mont Pilate in the early 1700's. He described it as having a body as long as its neck and tail, a head like a toothed serpent and sparks trailing from its body. In the Vorarlberg, a fierce dragon once hunted in the pastures, forests and ravines near Brand. A huge dragon lived in Lake Sonderdach, a small supposedly bottomless lake set in pastures above Bezau while another of its kind guarded a hoard of gold and silver coins under a big rock in Galina Gorge.
Go To Page: 1 2
