The Beast of Burgruine Friedlach
The ruins looked upon the village far below.
Its crenelated brow a brooding frown did show.
Frowning was not always its foreboding count’nance,
But recently evil had taken residence.
Of a moonless night they could hear its awful roar.
Some kind of great beast had come from back in the moor.
Two men had gone up the mount to investigate,
To identify the beast and authenticate.
The two men were never heard from, nor seen, again,
And the fear ev’ry person felt they did not feign.
As a consequence, each moonless night the beast roared,
But one young man among them was completely bored.
Daniel the Carpenter’s son believed not the beast.
On the New Moon he scaled before darkness increased,
The mount of the castle so fearsome high above,
Where the ruins stared down at him without much love.
Accompanied only by his long, fearsome seax,
He reached the far summit, but he could not relax.
The sun waned into orange, purple, red, and taupe
As if going out because it lost its last hope.
Perhaps his imagination made him think so?
Now that darkness was on his doubts began to grow.
That darkness became the deepest Stygian hue,
And he wondered if he would ever see it through.
Suddenly, in the night there was a wavering roar!
It filled the air with an awful sound more and more.
Was it a dragon, or a demon from the Pit?
Whatever it was, he was not about to quit.
Gliding through the ruined gates like a dark shadow
The monstrous beast’s lair he intended to harrow.
He crept through the ruined gate like a slinking cat.
Silently, with the night he made a concordat.
Into the old keep he stole, that burned with witch lights.
The beast roared again, adding to the awful frights.
As the beast sounded off, Daniel heard a guffaw.
When he looked, he could not believe what he saw.
There, on a large barrel with a leather drumhead
Sat one of the missing men that all thought was dead.
Through the drum head he was pulling a rawhide string
And laughing his head off as roars came from that thing.
The other missing man was waving an old cloak
over the fire, making lights flicker, as a joke.
Behind them men were loading stolen contraband.
Smugglers all, Daniel sudd’nly came to understand.
It was a ruse to cause the villagers a fright,
So to keep them from the contraband catching sight.
Silently, swiftly from the castle Daniel ran.
As he scampered down the mount his mind formed a plan.
Flying to the Gendarmerie he told his tale.
The face of the officers turned a shade of pale.
The villagers with torches and pitchforks joined in.
The Gendarmerie found courage where fear had been.
They surrounded the castle and a fight broke out,
But the village people put the smugglers to route.
The two missing men were accosted by their wives
Who beat the two men within an inch of their lives!
So ends the tale of the beast of Friedlach ruins.
It was a practical joke played on the cretins.
The people still talk about it down to this day,
But some believe there was a beast, or so they say.
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