Lore.

Legends and tales

Schlucht bei St. Antönien
The people of Praettigau were said to have a "propensity for mythological observation that goes beyond the Swiss average". Many legends about "Fänggen" (giant and dwarfish nature spirits), "wildi Mannli" and other mythical figures have moved and still move the minds of the Praettigau people.

It is not so long ago that people were still talking about people who could "eat more than bread" and whose predictions and help caused astonishment. The overly pious called it the devil's work, rationalists called it primitive superstition, but modern depth psychology (C.G. Jung) does not easily dismiss it as some kind of fabrication, there were occurrences that could not be explained according to the law of cause and effect ...
The immediacy of contact with nature probably contributes to some people's belief that, beyond religiosity in the narrower sense, occurrences are possible that defy logical explanation....

Source: Das Prättigau (Land and People in Pictures) Publisher Pro Prättigau

The wild cowherd from Conters

A wild little man tended the cows of Conters for several years without asking for a wage, but he never went into the village, instead the cattle were driven out every morning, where the wild cowman took them in and, as it seemed, took care of them for his own pleasure. In the end, the people of Conters thought they owed him a debt of gratitude, so they bought him a complete set of beautiful clothes and put them in the place where he took over the cows in the morning. The savage liked the jewellery; he tried it on for a long time until he had put on the unaccustomed costume and then looked at himself with some pleasure. Then a hitherto unknown sensation came into his heart: vanity. He jumped and danced around for a while, sang and cheered; he threw his shepherd's crook far away and sang, still dancing, "What would such a pastoral man like to go pasturing with the chickens." Then he ran merrily away into the forest and was never seen again. The cows, however, did not give as much milk since then....

Source: G. Fient

Finding gold on the Casanna Alp

A man from Mezza-Selva named Lemm, who had a wife from Fondei, once wanted to travel to his wife's homeland. He went over the mountain at night and saw a bright light in the darkness, which always remained the same size and in the same place; he went towards this light, but the brightness only emanated from a stone.

It was summertime and the weather was good, so he camped by the shining stone to have a closer look at the strange thing in the morning. In the morning, he no longer found this stone. It must have rolled downhill, and he walked on, perplexed. Near where he slept was a ridge. As he was about to cross it, he saw a beautiful yellow metal in the blue clay of the ridge, took it and tried to melt it. On his way back, he loaded a load of this metal onto his mule at this spot and brought his find to a cutting artist in Feldkirch, who gave him 16 Philippstaler for it. Further loads brought in ever-increasing payments, so that Lemm was soon able to buy a farm. His mysterious activities aroused suspicion, his treasure trove was discovered, but from then on the treasure disappeared and this merit came to an end.

Source: From P. Keckeis: Sagen der Schweiz, Graubünden, 1995, Limmatverlag, Zurich