Story, Page Eight

Tyyfel und Bock

As the devil transported the huge rock to a spot where he could throw it down to ruin the bridge, the people of Uri looked on in dismay. Nobody could stop him. Nobody could save their bridge. No tricks would help. No one had any clever ideas.

Then around a bend behind the devil and his load they saw a little old woman walking. She was rather startled at the sight of the huge rock on someone's back, but she soon saw who the someone was. She turned as if to flee, but then noticed the bridge ahead with the rock above. Quickly she hurried to catch up to the devil carrying the rock. He didn't see her. She reached out and made the sign of the cross on the back of the rock. Instantly the devil screamed as though he had been burned. He leaped away from the Rock and disappeared off the mountain.

The rock has been sitting in the same spot thereafter, and people from everywhere have been crossing the beautiful bridge over the rushing Reuss forever after.

THE END

Notes:

As with all old folk tales, this story comes in numerous versions. While the devil's terms of agreement remain consistently the same, the first soul to cross is given as a random rabbit in some versions, and a wandering dog in others, neither of which show the people as tricking the devil. In most versions the animal that crosses gets either thrown into the river or shredded by the devil, but we have the "General Audiences" version. And in all versions it is the cross that saves the day. The rock itself is still situated along the road toward town and has been saved several times from destruction - plans like being blown up to make room for a highway. Instead, some millions were spent to move it over a few feet to allow for the road and it to coexist. The original wooden bridge of the 1500's was eventually replaced by an arched stone bridge suitable for carriages, so the wooden one later rotted away after some centuries of disuse. Recently a second stone bridge suited for modern fast cars was built above the old stone bridge, so now there are two bridges crossing the rushing Reuss, which has not stopped in all these many years.

Next time: the current views of the bridges.