Legends of Soleure

Soleure, on the Aare, in the canton of the same name, is said to be,

after Trèves, the oldest city north of the Alps. Most of the old

landmarks and fortifications of this city have had to make way for

modern improvements; so the most interesting legends of the region are

connected with the pretty drives just outside the city.

In olden times, the picturesque Verenathal, or Verena valley, is said

to have been the retreat of a woman so very good and pious that she

was known as St. Verena long before her death. This worthy creature,

wishing to devote all her time to the worship of God, had betaken

herself to this lonely spot, where she built a small hermitage and

erected a cross, at the foot of which she spent many hours in fervent

prayer. Such was her charity, that she constantly interceded for the

wicked, pleading particularly for those who were most likely to succumb

to temptation and thus fall into the devil’s clutches.

These prayers and intercessions were not without avail; and the Evil

One, perceiving that he could not bag as many souls as usual in that

vicinity, finally set out to discover what was the matter. Walking past

the hermitage, the sound of passionate and persistent prayer fell upon

his ear; so he noiselessly drew near to ascertain the exact nature of

the petition.

Listening attentively, he soon distinguished the words, and gnashed his

teeth with rage when he overheard her interceding with special fervour

in behalf of the very souls he hoped soon to have in his power. This,

then, was the reason for the alarming and otherwise unaccountable

decrease in the number of his victims! He therefore resolved that the

prayers of the holy woman should immediately be stopped, and with that

end in view tore a huge mass of stone from a neighbouring cliff. Then

stealing near the saint, he held it for a moment suspended directly

above her head, carefully measuring the distance, so that he could kill

her with one blow.

But just as he was about to let the mass fall upon Verena and crush

her to death, she suddenly looked up, and met his baleful glance with

such a look of mingled purity, compassion, and reproach, that Satan,

starting back involuntarily, let the rock slip from his nerveless

hand. The boulder, falling on his foot, crushed it so badly that he

immediately vanished with a wrathful howl of pain and disappointment.

The rock thus dropped by the Evil One can now be seen on the very spot

where it fell, and it still bears the distinct imprint of the Devil’s

claws, which seem burnt in the stone.

“Wilt thou not believe my legend,

Go to St. Verena’s glen;

In the rocky clump thou’lt see there

Print of Satan’s fingers ten.”[7]

[7] Poems of Places--Switzerland: Longfellow.

Since then, his Infernal Majesty is said to have systematically avoided

passing through the narrow gorge where he met with this unpleasant

accident. But he is constantly reminded of St. Verena and of his

luckless attempt, for his crushed foot never recovered from this

accident, and he has walked lame from that day to this.

Near the hermitage hallowed by the holy life and death of St. Verena,

there is a tiny chapel; and a little farther on one can see a

representation of the Holy Sepulchre, hewn out of the rock, and adorned

with life-size statues. This place is frequently visited by pilgrims,

who also stand in awe and wonder before the fountains of the Soleure

Cathedral, which represent Moses striking the rock, and Gideon wringing

the dew out of the fleece, which, by a miracle, was dripping wet when

all the ground around it was dry.

* * * * *

NOTED as a railway junction, as well as a pleasantly located town on

the Aare, Olten is only five miles distant from the pretty health

resort of Frohburg, on the Hauenstein. From this eminence one can enjoy

a wonderful panorama of the Alps, extending from the Sentis at the

extreme northwest, to Mont Blanc at the southeastern end of the mighty

range of snow-capped mountains.

Within a few minutes’ walk from the hotel of Frohburg, are the ruins of

a castle of the same name, once famous for its beauty as well as its

great strength. The owner of this castle, the last Count of Frohburg,

was known far and wide as a wealthy and powerful nobleman, who ruled

his people with a heavy hand. His lands, extending for miles around the

castle, were carefully parcelled out among the peasants, who, beside

the feudal service required of them by their exacting master, were

further compelled to give him one tenth of all the produce of their

little farms.

On the day appointed for the payment of the grain tithes, the lord of

Frohburg, standing on the battlements of his castle, yearly beheld the

approach of a train of wheat-laden wagons, which formed an unbroken

line several miles long. Indeed, it is said that when the first cart

vanished under the tunnel-like gateway of the castle, the last could

just be seen crossing the bridge at Olten, more than five miles away.

All this wealth and power, however, only tended to spoil the Count of

Frohburg, who daily grew more haughty and overbearing, and finally

persuaded himself that his vassals had been created for his good

pleasure only, and were not human beings like himself. This belief made

him extremely cruel and tyrannical, but his overweening pride was soon

to be severely punished.

One day, shortly after the grain tithes had been paid, while the lord

of Frohburg was away from home, a terrible earthquake suddenly shook

the whole range of the Jura Mountains. The castle of Frohburg, unable

to withstand the awful shock, although its owner proudly averred it

would stand forever, was soon reduced to a heap of unsightly ruins,

from which rose dense clouds of choking dust. Towers and battlements,

halls and dungeons, were all laid low, and a messenger set off in great

haste to apprise the Count of the utter destruction of his abode.

This emissary met his master on the bridge, where he breathlessly and

tremblingly imparted his bad tidings. No sooner had the Count heard

his report, than he flew into an awful passion, cursing and swearing

so vehemently that all the people shrank away from him in horror. In

his anger at his loss, and further enraged by his retainers’ evident

reluctance to remain in the company of a blasphemer, the lord of

Frohburg raised his right hand to heaven and threateningly cried,--

“As true as I am lord of the land, not one of you shall again till his

fields, until my castle has been rebuilt by the work of your hands!”

At these words the distressed people groaned aloud, for the castle was

a huge edifice, and many months of arduous labour would be necessary

before it again rose in all its strength and magnificence. Forced to

work without pay for their cruel lord, they would be doomed to starve

to death with their wives and children, while the fields which had been

so productive hitherto would lie fallow and bare.

While they still stood there in speechless dismay, a thunderbolt

suddenly fell from a cloudless sky upon the cruel lord of Frohburg,

who soon lay before them a blackened and lightning-scarred corpse.

Thus, in the midst of his vassals, Providence punished the wicked man

for his cruelty and blasphemy.

As this nobleman was the last of his race, the Castle of Frohburg was

never rebuilt. It can still be seen, a mass of ruins, as it was left

by the memorable earthquake of 1356, which made such a havoc among the

buildings in the Jura mountains.