The Dace Fish of the Gerlos-see

On the banks of the Krummbach, near the village of Gerlos, lie three

mountain lakes, one of which swarms with millions of dace, of which,

however, nobody in the whole valley dares to eat, because, it is said,

they were originally put there by a Venediger-Manndl, and have the

property of throwing all those who partake of them into a decline.

The legend says that a long time ago, a wicked peasant of that valley

took it into his head to exterminate all his neighbours secretly and

by degrees, so that he might eventually become the sole proprietor of

the valley, and therefore he paid a heavy sum to a Venediger-Manndl to

give him some poison fish to put into the lake. But his wicked plan ill

repaid him, for he is now compelled to lie for ever at the bottom of

the See, where the dace constantly feed upon his body, there being no

other thing for them to eat in the whole lake; and, as fast as they

eat, the body of the wicked plotter grows up again.

The belief in this dreadful legend is so firmly fixed in the minds of

the inhabitants, that, even were they starving, they would rather die

than touch one of the poison fish in the lake, and their indignation

would be extreme did even any stranger try to take a fish out of the

prohibited water.