Banadietrich

A pious and virtuous knight named Banadietrich once lived around Varnsdorf. It was said that an angel brought him food and the wind carried his cloak. For a long time the Devil could do nothing with him, until one day he made him laugh during Mass by turning into a hunchbacked old man who bit a goatskin while banging his head against the church door. After that Banadietrich received no more heavenly food and sinned more and more, above all by carrying bread in his boots. He was punished and must still hunt as the ghostly Wild Huntsman. Another version of the Devil's trick says that the knight was tempted to hunt even on a holy day and also refused alms to the poor. Once he had been led into sin, a voice from heaven asked: 'Banadietrich, how long will you hunt?' The knight retorted: 'As long as God wishes!' The answer came: 'Then you shall hunt until Judgment Day!' To this day, at the new moon, the ghost of the Wild Huntsman races through the surrounding forests, accompanied by the barking of his hunting pack and the beat of his horse's hooves. (See Krásná Lípa and Šluknov.)