The Oberleitner of Terenten

At Terenten, in the Pusterthal, lies a farm which is called the

Oberleitner Hof, and its proprietor, who died about twenty years ago,

was known in all the surrounding mountains under the name of “the Old

Oberleitner.”

This old man was a master of the black art, as well as a great

huntsman, who delighted in going over the mountains to the wild rocky

valley of the Stillupp and Floiten, in pursuit of stone bucks, of which

he killed numbers; and he had indeed carried his infatuation so far

that there is not one now to be seen in the whole neighbourhood.

One day he was out with a fellow-huntsman, quite on the top of the

mountain, and all at once he said to him, “Look there, my wife is just

preparing the dinner, and as she is not in a good temper to-day we must

try and be home in time, or else we shall catch a scolding.”

“But how can that be possible,” answered the other, “since we have more

than a day and a half’s journey before we can reach home?”

“Never mind that,” replied the Oberleitner; and as the housewife served

the dinner, the two huntsmen entered the room at the same moment as all

the farm people. Of course, this never happened in a natural way; but

how it came to pass no one can say. Though everybody of the district

believes firmly that it was an example of Oberleitner’s ability.

Upon one of the farm-buildings of the Oberleitner Hof is still to

be seen, up to the present day, an old roughly-painted picture,

which represents an incident in the life of the former proprietor of

the farm. Oberleitner was working in an adjoining field, when he

caught sight of several fine stags on the distant Alp, called the

Eidechsspitze. He ordered his servant to run home and fetch his rifle,

but the man laughingly replied, “They will have time to run away a

hundred times before you can reach them.”

“Oh!” said the Oberleitner, “I have fixed them there surely enough.”

And, in fact, there they remained upon the same spot until he arrived

on the top of the mountain, where he quietly shot them all down, one

after the other.