Tyrol (Austria) -- Description and travel; Tyrol (Austria) -- History
But if from Bozen one looks merely for the rosy hue to tint the
skyward-piercing pinnacles of rock, which have been poetically called
the "Rosengarten," or rambles in the picturesque and beautiful valleys
and tiny defiles at their feet, one will not be disappointed. And the
"roses," like other similar phenomena, are in a sense a weather glass;
the deeper the red they glow the finer the ensuing day. At first a
plum-hued twilight, such as one gets in the Maloja valley, seems to
fall down out of the sky, and then the mountain peaks commence to
receive their baptism of crimson. Then at last, as the sun sinks
behind the interposing Guntschna Berg, only the highest peaks continue
for a short time longer to glow with increasing, and then fading,
depth of colour, till at length the plum-bloom shadows conquer the
"roses" and the cool twilight comes.
The origin of the descriptive phrase "the Rosengarten" is (so far as
we have been able to discover) lost in the mists of antiquity. But
there is a rather pretty legend concerning the Garden itself. Long ago
(the story tells us), when men were perhaps happier and certainly less
sophisticated and cynical than they are now, and believed in fairies,
gnomes, and magic, there lived a dwarf named Laurin or Laurenz
reigning over the other dwarfs, who inhabited a country in the centre
of the Schlern. By some means or other this dwarf managed to see and
fall in love with the beautiful, golden-haired sister of a retainer of
Dietrich of Bern, in Switzerland. After having seized her he bore her
to his palace of crystal in the interior of the mountains, and there
kept her prisoner. Soon, however, the brave and gallant knight
Dietrich, and his squire, who was named Dietlieb, determined to rescue
the abducted maiden, and for this purpose they came up from Italy
where they were at the time, and finding an opening entered the
Schlern, and after a fierce fight succeeded in conquering the dwarf,
notwithstanding the fact that of course the latter was assisted by a
magician. Laurin was not, however, killed, but spared by Dietrich at
the request of Dietlieb. It was unfortunate clemency, however, as
Laurin, professing himself grateful and offering them refreshment
after their labours and fight, gave them drugged wine, so that when
they awoke they discovered that they had been bound and cast into a
dungeon of the dwarf's castle. From this predicament they were happily
freed by Dietlieb's sister, Simild, and after another fierce encounter
with the dwarfs they defeated them, and trod the famous Rosengarten
roses underfoot, their places being taken by those that bloom at
sunset upon the peaks above the site of Laurin's mythical palace.
That, at all events, is the story we have been told, and though the
Rosengarten and its miniature valleys are beautiful enough for real
roses to have their home there, none grow there now save figurative
ones caused by the sunset light.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account