Lake Mondsee.

Country of Origin: Austria
Original Language: German
Published in: Sagen aus Österreich
Published by: Ueberreuter

Lake Mondsee. Deep down at the bottom of Lake Mondsee there is a small hill. A long time ago there was a wonderful castle standing on that hill and where now there is a water filled valley, there once lied fertile meadows, fields and a beautiful little village with a church consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The inhabitants of that village were diligent and pious farmers: on weekdays they were busily doing their work and Sundays were dedicated to the Lord.
The knight who was the owner of the nearby castle, however, was a cruel and vile guy who enjoyed exploiting and oppressing his subjects and also raiding neighbouring castles and stealing the goods. On Sundays he never went to church but feasted with his fellow knights in his castle.
One night the Blessed Virgin appeared to the village priest in his dreams and requested him to leave the village together with all its inhabitents because else everyone would be lost. In the same night the priest went from house to house and warned all the people who packed their things, gathered their cattle and left the village before sunrise. They settled down again at the place where still today the township of Mondsee stands. The knight watched the exodus of his subjects from his castle and sneered at them. Then he returned to his guests at the table and, as usual, they spent the day drinking, gambling and blaspheming until it finally grew dark.
But while the lord of the castle and his guests were drinking their fill, a storm was brewing and moved towards the castle. Countless times the castle was sruck by lightning and soon flames were shooting out of the roof, and from gashes in the ground water came blustering out, rapidly flooding the whole valley. The burning castle sank and so did the knight and his guests, no matter how much they cursed and shouted. The rising water finally swallowed the castle and also flooded the abandoned houses of the village.
The next morning the castle and the village were gone and there spread a wide, wide lake which got its name, ‘Lake Mondsee’, because of its moon-like shape.
In bygone times you were supposedly still able to see the church spire and also the battlements of the castle on the ground on sunny days and many fishermen have claimed to have heard the voices of the unfortunate knight and his guests.