[1] _Bergmönch_--mountain monk.
[2] _Wilder Mann_--wild man.
There are numerous traditions of the Bergmönch in the mining
districts.
He is always seen in the dress of a master-miner, with a silver
mine-lamp in his hand.
It is said he was a master-miner, and begged to be permitted to
inspect the mines until the Judgment Day. The Monk's
valley--Mönchsthal--near Clausthal, was his favourite retreat.
In St. Andreasberg the tradition is, he was a monk who sought to open
the mines there, but failed.
According to this tradition, he completed nearly the entire canal at
the base of the Rehberg,[3] called the Rehberger Graben, which
conveys all the water to St. Andreasberg for the working of the
Samson mine, but became bankrupt through the undertaking.
[3] _Rehberg_--stag mountain.
Many wild tales are told of his bringing aid to the miners, and to
the poor and distressed, and of his severity toward the wrong-doer.
In the mining town Wildemann there is a tradition of a wild man who
gave the place its name.
Once a robber from the Thuringian Forest lived here in a cave with a
wild woman; they were clothed with moss and the branches of fir-trees.
The knight Claus, founder of Clausthal, once saw this wild man on the
Wildmann's Cliffs, with a fir-tree, torn up by the roots, in his
hand, and a bear on his. back.