Who has not heard of the notorious sorcerer Veit, who many, many years ago haunted our regions with his mischief? He appeared in various parts of the country; he is said to have been active also in the surroundings of Berdorf.

He wore a magic belt around his loins, by means of which he could perform the most varied transformations: for example, he would turn himself now into a tree trunk, now into a bench, and so on. He took particular pleasure in playing tricks on the butter-women.

When these women were carrying their baskets filled with butter, cheese and eggs to market, the cunning Veit would deceive them by lying down close to the path in the shape of a tree trunk, a heavy stone or a bench, inviting the tired women to sit and rest. But this rest was to turn out badly for the poor market-women: all at once they would topple over together with their baskets, and the contents would roll and tumble in the dust, while Veit walked away roaring with mocking laughter.

Several times he was caught and sentenced to die at the hands of the executioner, but Veit always knew how to escape destruction. When they had dragged him to the place of execution and already put the noose around his neck, suddenly there would be nothing hanging there but a bundle of straw.

At last they hit upon the idea of leading the old sorcerer backwards to the gallows and hanging him with his own magic belt. This succeeded, and the region was freed from the mischief-maker.

P. Wolff.