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Rinntaverne

legendary

The Rinntaverne is already an old lady. It was first heard of in 1272 as the "Taverne an der Rinn". This "Rinn" still exists today.


 

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the story is told

Just like 750 years ago, the stream still babbles in front of the Rinntaverne today. Nomen est omen: water has always characterised the farm. In those days, the immediate proximity to the Iron Road mainly attracted raftsmen and carters, but even Crown Prince Rudolph is said to have stayed here. And there are still tales of a missing shepherd, three mountain women dressed in white and a mysterious gate in the local mountain, the Frauenmauer. No wonder? Of course, a tavern that welcomes monarchs also deserves its own legend.

The Legend

The Frauenmauer near Palfau

At the lower Gamsstein is a rock called the "Frauenmauer". One evening, as the shepherd from the Rinntaverne passed by this rock with his small flock, one of his lambs rushed to the spring of water gushing from the rock to drink. Suddenly, three beautiful mountain women dressed in white appeared. One of them wanted the youngest lamb. The shepherd agreed and gave it to her. Then the rock wall opened up and a marvellous castle was revealed. Two servants dressed in white led the shepherd into the magnificent hall, whose walls shone like crystal. The three mountain women sat in the centre. On the table was a golden bowl with a roast lamb in it. The shepherd had to eat it with them, but he was not allowed to bite a bone. But the shepherd was so confused by the splendour of the room and the silent behaviour of the three mountain women that he forgot this warning and bit a knuckle. The whole mountain immediately shook with a loud thunderclap and the shepherd stood again with his flock in front of the rock wall and thought he had been dreaming. He counted his sheep and found the youngest one again, but it had a broken foot and was limping.

When he arrived in the village with his flock, he saw strangers everywhere and no one wanted to let his sheep in. The villagers stood around the shepherd in amazement, who explained to them that he was from the Rinntaverne and had only been sleeping in front of the Gamsstein for a while.

Then an old woman remembered that her grandmother had once told her that the shepherd from the Rinntaverne had never returned home with his sheep. The mountain women had cast a spell on him.