Deutsches Abenteuer: Der Zwergenstein

Today I walked to the Zwergenstein (literally - dwarf stone). According to a local legend, it's a rock that marks the entrance to the place where the Unnererdschen live (literally - under the earth, and -chen is a diminutive). It's the local name for a race of dwarves. There's a children's book that I read and translated here that tells the story.

Note the shape of the rocks

A group of farmers discovered the Unnererdschen grinding their grain in a mill (Proitzer Mühle). When they realised the farmers had spotted them, the dwarves quickly gathered their stuff and departed. The farmers chased them as far as the hole in the ground into which they disappeared, and which was marked by a large rock, the Zwergenstein. Later, the children of one of the farmers heard him talking about the Unnererdschen and decided they wanted one of the dwarves to play with. The farmer and his hand, Jochen, went out and caught one of the dwarves and locked him in the stable. When they went to show the children their new playmate the next morning, he'd gone. They went to the Unnererdschenberg again to catch another, but discovered that the hole into the Unnererdschen home had been covered by a second large rock. That night, the Unnererdschen paid a visit to Jochen and stole his nightcap. He went to the farmer and they organised a night visit to recapture one of the dwarves, as the hole was obviously open at night. Jochen went down the hole again but never came out. The farmer ran away in terror some time later. The hole in the ground is once again covered by the rock, and Jochen was never seen again.