During his lifetime, he was a respected man. As such, he was the steward of a widow’s estate. Secretly, however, he felled timber in her forest and moved the boundary stones that marked the limits of her land. As punishment, he was compelled to remain in that forest even after his death, and Ember-day children often heard him sawing wood. Many people, at night, were unable to leave that spot until the prayer bell rang.
Once, when a young man was walking through the forest at night, he encountered a man dressed in a long white robe held together by a colourful belt. In his hand he carried a saw. For a long time, with his arms outstretched, he stared into the young man’s face. From that time onward, the youth was never quite himself again. Very often, a bird appeared to him and settled on his shoulder. Whenever he tried to seize it, away it darted, while the birds in the nearby trees raised a loud chorus of whistles and cries. Before long, the young man died.
A. Sprenger.
