Archbishop Hatto and the Mouse Tower.
A German Folktale.
MOUSE TOWER of Archbishop Hatto – German Folklore Characters & Folktales
There’s a unique power in German folktales, isn’t there?
So many of them came out of the sacred Germanic forests.
Many, but not all, were gathered by the Brothers Grimm. We were told those stories in early childhood. Others we read later in life. I still treasure my Jack Zipes translations. The two Bantam Books volumes sit on my writing desk shelves.
But Jacob and Wilhelm didn’t gather them all.
Here’s a personal favourite German folktale. Its roots may not go back as far as the stories the Grimm Brothers collected. This story only goes back 1051 years.
THE MOUSE TOWER
Hatto, Abbot of Fulda, a man of “singular skill and great spiritual endowments” (or so he said of himself), was elected Archbishop of Mentz. He was also a harsh man. Being extremely greedy, he heaped up treasures which he guarded with the utmost care.
And then, wishing to be made Archbishop of Bingen am Rhein, he used every means in his power to accomplish his purpose. He succeeded, and became even more ambitious, proud, and cruel. He heavily taxed the people of Bingen to build fine dwellings for himself.
At last he built a shining watch tower by the Rhine River, where the river narrowed, to compel all ships to pay him toll. Hatto used the tower as a platform for his men-at-arms — able archers all. And demanded tribute from passing boats, shooting on their crews if they did not pay him.
Then came the Great Famine of 974.
And Hatto, having plenty of money, bought up everything and filled his granaries. He sold his stores at such high prices that only the rich could buy them.
The Archbishop paid no heed to the supplications of his famishing people. He intended to build a superb palace with their money.
One day, when Hatto was entertaining his rich friends at dinner, the starving people forced their way into the dining-hall and begged for food.
Hatto told them to go to the large barn just outside, where corn would be brought to them. When they were gathered in the barn, Hatto ordered his men-at-arms to shut and bar the doors. And to set the barn on fire. And to put an arrow in any man, woman or child who leapt out of the flames.
Then Hatto returned to his feast.
When their shrieks reached the dining-hall, Hatto turned to his guests and said, “Hear how the corn-mice squeak!” He laughed. And his friends obediently laughed with him. As you do when you are caught in a room with a mad tyrant.
But the Wrath of Heaven was approaching.
A strange sound came from the doorway. The clatter, clatter of many tiny claws. The little crunches of teeth on wood. And the real sound of chirping corn-mice.
For out of the ashes of the barn thousands of mice were making their way to the palace, filling the rooms and running at Hatto. The Archbishop screamed at his men-at-arms to defend him.
Thousands of the rodents were killed. But they steadily increased. And he was finally obliged to flee in terror of his life to a boat, still pursued by legions of mice.
Hatto was ferried over the Rhine to the tower. The mice swam after him. Climbed up to the tower. And penetrated the walls, jumping on him by the thousands, and ate him up.
And the tower has been called Der Mäuseturm — The Mouse Tower — ever since.
Today, the exterior of Mouse Tower is kept freshly painted white with dark yellow trim. But nobody lives inside its stone walls. Its heavy oak doors are locked. People aren’t allowed inside. Some locals will tell you it’s haunted by the evil spirit of Hatto the Oppressor. Others tell stories of small, dark Maismäuse with fiery eyes. If you go there after midnight, you will hear desperate banging from inside.
The Mouse Tower stands as a warning to men who would be tyrants.
“They have whetted their teeth against the stones,
And now they pick the bishop’s bones;
They gnawed the flesh from every limb,
For they were sent to do judgement on him!” – Robert Southey, “God’s Judgment on a Wicked Bishop.”
If you love Folk Tales as I do, see my popular NATIVE AMERICAN LEGEND: Wild Woman of the Woods – Woman of the Mask.
And WHAT ARE SPIRIT BEARS? Sacred White Bears & Native American Legends.
MOUSE TOWER of Archbishop Hatto – German Folklore Characters & Folktales
SOURCES:
- “God’s Judgment on a Wicked Bishop.” Robert Southey (1774-1843). From POEMS OF TRAGEDY: IV. Germany, Bliss Carman, et al., eds, D Appleton & Co., New York. 1904.
- TO NUREMBERG AND BACK: A Girl’s Holiday, by Amy Neally, E P Dutton & Company, New York, 1892.
- FOLK TALES FROM MANY LANDS: A Collection of Folk Tales from Across the World, Lilian Gask, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1929.
- “The Mouse Tower (German: Mäuseturm) is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany. The Mouse Tower with Ehrenfels Castle…” MOUSE TOWER.
- “Der Binger Mäuseturm ist ein ehemaliger Wehr- und Wachturm. Er steht auf der Mäuseturminsel im Rhein vor dem Binger Stadtteil Bingerbrück…” Binger Mäuseturm.
TAGS: Mouse Tower, Archbishop Hatto, German Folklore Characters, German Folktales.
