There used to be many little mountain men. They helped the herdsmen with the haymaking and were given cheese and fresh milk in return. A little man also lived on the Steinberg, towards the Branzhorn. He lived in a rock cave near the Obfluh alp and was very helpful. Whenever the herdsmen had to go down into the valley, they could leave the alp to the little man, he looked after the animals so well. ‘Only when the Föhn (warm Wind) blows do I not come,’ he would always say. 

The little man had a place in the mountains, a flat stone where he would sit and rest.

Some people down in Rütimatt heard about this and decided to play a trick on the little man. 

When they saw the little man coming out of his rock cave, they secretly heated up the flat stone. When he sat down on it, he screamed in pain and cried: ‘I won’t be coming anymore!’

Since that day, he has never been seen again, and the herdsmen had to do all the hard work on their own.

In Dallenwil, on the Tableten Alp, there was also a helpful little mountain man. He helped with the haymaking and warned people of storms. If a thunderstorm was brewing before the hay was dry, he would take two hazel rods, beat the hay with them, and it would fly straight into the hayloft ahead of the little man. 

This little man had his favourite spot on the bench near the stove. But today he is no longer to be seen. Who knows who drove him away?

Some say, however, that there are still little mountain men at the Salistock. On a full moon, they dance around the Salistock. They bathe in the Luterseeli and lift many glittering stones out of the water. If you want to know whether that’s true, you’ll have to go and see for yourself!

Neu erzählt von D. Jaenike, nach mehreren Sagen aus: Aus: Franz Niederberger Sagen und Gebräuche aus Unterwalden, Sarnen 1924. Übersetzung Lysander Jaenikeli© Mutabor