Visbeker Braut Long Barrow View all content for Visbeker Braut

In the middle of the Ahlhorner Heide was in the old days a large farm. The owner was proud and greedy and would have liked to have his only daughter married to a wealthy farmer's son from the area. But the girl loved a poor shepherd who had been her teenage plays. The hard-hearted father did not care about the requests of his child, but set against the will of the girl's wedding day. On wedding mornings, a procession of festively dressed people moved across the heath to Visbek. The bride and groom embarked on a walk with their parents, followed by the retinue of relatives and neighbors. The bride was deathly pale with tears in her eyes. Closer and closer she came to the village church; the bells of Visbek were already ringing. Then, in desperation, the girl turned her eyes to heaven and called imploringly: "Help, O God! I would rather turn to stone on the spot than belong to a man whom I can not love". As soon as she uttered these words, the bridal process froze. Where men of flesh and blood had just moved on their way, mighty stones rose in two rows next to each other. The myrtle wreath, the flowers and ribbons turned into gray lichen and mosses. The bridegroom's procession also suffered the same fate and turned to stone. The mighty boulders there give witness to it. (taken from: Etta Bengen, O Wunner, o Wunner. Wat ligg hier woll unner? Großsteingräber zwischen Weser und Ems im Volksglauben. Oldenburg 2000)

Posted by Nucleus 1st November 2018ce

Comments (2)
Excellent, folklore from Germany!	Posted by Rhiannon 2nd November 2018ce
Thanks, I just hope that my translation did not lose essential details of the story. And it's amazing that petrified wedding parties appear again and again in all regions with megalithic sites.	Posted by Nucleus 4th November 2018ce
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