Legendary Wipptal

Old legends and tales exist in all of Tyrol's valleys and are passed down from generation to generation. In the Wipptal there are also very special legends that explain phenomena or local events. They often have a connection to a mountain or a natural spectacle. Most of them have one thing in common: they are intended to teach people to treat each other and nature with respect and to remind them of the punishment for disregarding these principles. We would like to tell one of these stories.

The mountain giant and the mountain king
In the area of the Tribulaun, there is a tale of a stingy and greedy mountain king to whom all the land and mountains were once subject. The rocky wilderness of the Tribulaun did not yet loom in the same torn form as it does today, but fertile alpine pastures and green mountain meadows and forests stretched out in place of the rocks. But the mountain king was so stingy and greedy that he mistreated the poor farmers and miners and exploited them to the hilt.
Then it happened that once a little peasant fled from the mountain king in his fear and climbed higher and higher into the mountains to escape his cruel persecutor. But then the old mountain giant, who was keeping watch at the Tribulaun, suddenly appeared and rebuked the stingy mountain king, telling him to throw away his golden pompom and give it up.

But the mountain king turned away and wanted to escape from the giant again and continued to chase after the farmer. Then the giant struck the summit of the Tribulaun with his fist so that it split in two and is still two peaks high today. The little farmer fled into this hole, while the miserly king wanted to escape, but the old man had turned him into a rock spike that can still be seen today: the Goldkappl.
And the stingy king still carries his golden popanz, probably the symbol of his wealth and avarice. There are divining rods on the Tribulaun, as the legend goes, and those who are lucky will one day find the golden treasure.

Source: From the book "Eine sagenhaft historische Wanderung durch das Gschnitztal" by Martina Pranger, based on Hermann Holzmann's "Wipptaler Heimatsagen".