The Wild Huntsman tears through the forest at night attended by a noisy
host, pursuing his furious chase with unearthly singing, with sounding
of horns, with the barking of dogs, the clattering of horses, and with
fearful shouting and hallooing. This widespread conception has been
ascertained to date from ancient pagan time, in which Wuotan, (or
Woden), the principal deity of German mythology, exhibits the
characteristics commonly attributed to the Wild Huntsman. But it is new
as well as old; for it suggests itself not less naturally at the present
day than it suggested itself in bygone times--as the reader will perhaps
know from his own experience, if he has ever found himself alone on a
stormy moonlight night in a forest of Bohemia or Germany. In any case,
he may be sure that it is no joke to traverse in such a night a forest
which still continues in almost its primeval state.
For awhile everything appears silent as the grave, and the lonely
pedestrian, pursuing some old track which faintly indicates the way to a
village, is only occasionally bewildered by the sudden darkness
occurring when a cloud obscures the moon, or by the startling
brightness, should he reach unexpectedly a clearing in the forest just
at the moment when a cloud has passed across the moon, casting not far
before him its shadow, which like a spectre rapidly flits over the
brushwood, assuming various uncouth shapes. Soon his imagination is
excited by distant sounds never heard in open day--yelping of foxes,
howling of wolves, grunting of wild boars; and now by the piteous cry of
agony emitted by a bird which has fallen a prey to some ravenous beast.
Presently he is startled by an awful noise like the galloping of a
cavalcade: a herd of stags is hastily fleeing through the wood. The
cavalcade seems to come straight upon him; but soon the noise grows
weaker, and quickly dies away. Now a whirlwind sweeping over the forest,
and violently shaking the tops of the trees, gradually approaches the
harassed pedestrian. At first only groaning and grumbling, it soon
bursts forth into a terrific howl; and as it furiously passes over the
head of the involuntary witness, it scares from their hiding-places
sundry owls, the hooting and screeching of which alone would suffice to
make his hair stand on end. And when the whirlwind has swept over, and
is only heard faintly murmuring in the distance, other sounds and
apparitions not less terrifying are sure soon to arise. In short, the
lonely wanderer, be he ever so intelligent an observer of nature, will
most likely feel his heart eased of a heavy weight when he has left the
forest behind him. Soon, having reached the end of his journey, he may
put on his slippers with that comfortable sensation of relief which
people are sure to experience when they have escaped an imminent danger.
It is all very well for him now to persuade himself that, after all, he
has only witnessed some interesting natural phenomena; he may perhaps
even smile at the superstitious notions of simple-minded peasants. But
of what avail is this to him? The night is not yet over, and he cannot
escape a fearful dream of a personal encounter with the Wild Huntsman
and his furious host.
From what has been said it will not surprise the reader that the reports
of witnesses who profess to have met with the Wild Huntsman are at
variance in many points. Much evidently depends upon the nature of the
locality in which the mysterious apparition shows itself. In some parts
of Germany particular stress is laid upon the softness and sweetness of
his music. This conception may have originated in the pine-forests where
the delicate needle-shaped leaves of the trees are vibrated by the wind
like the strings of an ∆olian harp. But, the blowing of the huntsman's
horn seems to be an indispensable attribute to the furious chase. The
country-folks in Mecklenburg, and in some other provinces in the North
of Germany where Low German is spoken, on hearing the mysterious noise
in the wood, say, "_De Wode t¸t!_" ("Woden is tooting!") thereby
implying a series of unrhythmical sounds rather than a melodious
succession of tones on the horn--in fact, sounds very much like the
hooting of the owl. It is moreover a common belief that a kind of owl,
called by the peasants _Tutosel_, always accompanies the Wild Huntsman
with his furious host.
An account of an extraordinary occurrence given by an honest witness is,
of course, generally preferable to a statement of the same occurrence
merely obtained from hearsay; and the evidence of the witness deserves
all the greater attention if he shows himself to be an intelligent and
keen observer. The subjoined report of the German Baron Reibnitz may
therefore interest the reader. It was communicated by the Baron to the
Philosophical Society in Gˆrlitz, Silesia. As Gˆrlitz possesses a
Philosophical Society, there must be clever fellows in the town. Be this
as it may, the document is authentic, and has been faithfully translated
from the German.