It seems to me as if it were yesterday that old Nef, our neighbour, told us about the Tuutier. Every evening he came to us “for a chat”; then he sat down at the table, took out his pipe, to the bit of which he had attached a trouser button so that he could hold it better with his toothless mouth; grandmother sat down at the spinning wheel, mother mended the clothes, we all listened to the old man’s words:

There had once been seven bad boys, they had been cursed and now, as a punishment, they had to haunt many places in our region in seven guises and with seven screams as a Tuutier. They take the form of a three-pointed bag of leaves or a white goat; then they appear as a dog, a pig, a cat, a bird, etc., always with the corresponding cry of the animal in question.

Once, when old Nef was walking home from us at night, he met a large pig behind our house, which grunted loudly. He thought our pig had gone out because we had a similar one at that time. He returned and reported it. But our pig was safe and sound in the barn; none of them was missing in the whole neighbourhood.

Another time, Nef went from the Laui to home. By the maples in the “Dicket” (Thicket) so many “Wicked Birds” had flown at his feet that he could no longer walk. The birds kept screaming: “Vee vitt, vee vitt!” Then he took courage, kicked some of them and said: “You bloody fools, I just want to go home!” Now the birds scattered and there was a roar in the Eggliwald that could have made you think the whole world was going to fall apart.

The “Thicket” was a favourite haunt of the Tuutier. The “Choche Liess” had once been in his hut in the “Thicket”. A strange shouting broke out and a three-pointed bag of leaves lay on the door of the hut. The man pretended not to notice anything, whereupon the sack of leaves rolled away as it came.

There had once been a white goat in the doorway of the old hut. The goat grew bigger and bigger and suddenly disappeared. The “Melcherlis Boy” claimed that it was not a real goat.

The “Gällelis Boy” had once gone “Stubeten” (courting). On the bridge between “Seinis” and “Sessen Uelis” a big pig was lying across it and blocked his way. He did an enormous “Yuck” (poo?) over the monster; the next day, however, his whole face was swollen and he got a persistent rash, which is said to have been caused by the Tuutier.

Nikolaus Bollhalder in Chüeboden also told me that he had once walked over the “Drecktöbeli” (dirty gully) at night. On the “Brüggle” (Bridge?) a large poodle dog lay down in front of his feet; he was unable to get across at that point.
I. Hell.

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Editor’s note: a lot going on here as the story is really a mini-collection of anecdotes and it needs careful thought and there maybe other interpretations:

• “Laue” – according to Duden, die Laue is a Swiss dialect word for “Avalanche”, but that doesn’t seem to fit this context: Nef ging ein andermal aus der Laue nach Hause (Nef went another time from the Laue to home.) however, on the map I found a place in the district call Laui. There are other places with different spelling that are clearly the same place, for example Kuhboden and Chüeboden (Cow Ground).
• The “dreizipfligen Laubsackes” (three-pointed sack of leaves) is really odd, but is a motif that occurs in several stories.
• “Wickvögel” appears to be a Wicked Bird, or Bird of Death, which is a mythological type of raven that screams when someone is going to die or sits on a house where someone will die soon. In the German text the call of the bird is “Wie witt” which if that is a sound and not actual words, should be something like “Vee Vitt” because of the German W/V thing.
• “Dicket” I take to mean thicket (i.e. a dense cluster of trees and bushes) because it would seen to fit and “Dick” translates to “Thick” (also “fat”), but it appears to be this place.
• “Ihr strohls Narre, hei will i!” is in dialect. Looking up strohls, “Strohl” appears to be a surname, but here is it lowercase so the word is most likely an adjective. “Narre” is fool, so this could be something like “You bloody fools!”. “i = ich, will = will, hei = heim? So my best guess is that he shouts at the birds “Your bloody fools, I just want to go home!”
• The other names that appear in quotes are mysterious, other than “Stubeten” which I am pretty sure refers to to Stubete gangs – gangs of boys who go around courting young ladies.

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423. Das Tuutier.

Es ist mir, als sei es gestern gewesen, dass der alte Nef, unser Nachbar, vom Tuutier erzählte. Jeden Abend kam er zu uns “zu Spinni”; dann setzte er sich an den Tisch, holte sein Pfeifchen hervor, an dessen Beisser er einen Hosenknopf angebracht hatte, damit er es mit seinem zahnlosen Munde besser halten konnte; die Grossmutter setzte sich zum Spinnrad, die Mutter flickte die Kleider, wir alle lauschten den Worten des Alten.

Es seien einst sieben böse Buben gewesen, diese seien verwünscht worden und müssen nun zur Strafe in sieben Gestalten und siebenerlei Geschrei an vielen Orten unserer Gegend als Tuutier geisten. Dieses hat die Gestalt eines dreizipfligen Laubsackes oder einer weissen Ziege; dann erscheint es als Hund, als Schwein, als Katze, als Vogel ec., allemal mit dem entsprechenden Geschrei des betreffenden Tieres.

Als einmal der alte Nef nachts von uns weg nach Hause ging, begegnete ihm hinter unserm Hause ein grosses Schwein, welches laut grunzte. Er glaubte, unser Schwein sei ausgekommen, weil wir zu dieser Zeit ein ähnliches besassen. Nun kehrte er zurück und machte Anzeige. Unser Schwein aber war wohlbehalten im Stalle; in der ganzen Nachbarschaft wurde kein solches vermisst.

Nef ging ein andermal aus der Laue nach Hause. Bei den Ahornen in der “Dicket” seien ihm so viele “Wickvögel” vor die Füsse geflogen, dass er nicht mehr fortschreiten konnte. Die Vögel schrieen immer: “Wie witt, wie witt!” Da fasste er Mut, überschlug einige derselben und sagte: “Ihr strohls Narre, hei will i!” Nun stuben die Vögel auseinander, und es entstand ein Brausen und Toben im Eggliswald, dass man hätte meinen mögen, die ganze Welt werde zerfallen.

Die “Dicket” war ein Lieblingsaufenthalt des Tuutiers. Der “Choche Liess” sei einmal in seiner Hütte in der “Dicket” gewesen. Es brach ein sonderbares Geschrei los, und ein dreizipfeliger Laubsack legte sich auf das Hüttentürchen. Der Mann tat, als ob er nichts merke, worauf sich der Laubsack davonwälzte, wie er gekommen.

Beim alten Hüttli im Türli sei einmal eine weisse Ziege gestanden. Die Ziege wurde immer grösser und grösser und verschwand plötzlich.

Der “Melcherlis Bueb” behauptete, es sei keine rechte Geiss gewesen. Der “Gällelis Bueb” sei einmal “zu Stubeten” gegangen. Auf der Brücke zwischen “Seinis” und “Sessen Uelis” lag ein grosses Schwein quer auf derselben und versperrte ihm den Weg. Er tat einen gewaltigen “Juck” über das Ungetüm; am andern Tage aber war er im ganzen Gesichte geschwollen und bekam einen hartnäckigen Ausschlag, welcher vom Tuutier verursacht worden sein soll.

Nikolaus Bollhalder im Kühboden hat mir auch erzählt, er sei einmal nachts über das “Drecktöbeli” gegangen. Auf dem “Brüggle” legte sich ein grosser Pudelhund ihm vor die Füsse; er habe an jener Stelle nicht hinüberkommen können.
I. Hell.

Picture generated by Midjourney