Buschgroßmutter

The Buschgroßmutter appears in regional folktales as an ancient woman-of-the-woods figure tied to moss and underwood traditions. Nineteenth-century mythologists such as Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Mannhardt and Ludwig Bechstein sometimes treated her as a leader or queen of the moss-people and compared her with figures like Hulda or Bertha; early twentieth-century scholarship revised this interpretation, recasting her in many accounts as a more primitive forest spirit or demon. These scholarly debates reflect attempts to situate the Buschgroßmutter in comparative mythology, but the folkloric tradition itself presents her primarily as an old forest matriarch who enforces and encodes local forest norms.

Folktales describe her as extremely old—"as old as the hills"—and small, stooped or ducked, wrinkled and ugly. Common motifs include dishevelled white hair (often described as shaggy or full of lice), large or staring eyes (Transylvanian variants are said to have "large fiery eyes"), and sometimes an "iron head." She is often shown with peasant implements: a gnarled stick or crutch, an apron or a basket on her back, and at times travels in a small cart or waggon. Feet may be described as overgrown with moss and her gait wavering; Transylvanian tales additionally report very large teeth and accounts that her head can be "as cold as ice."

The Buschgroßmutter's behaviour is ambivalent in the record: she may reward respectful helpers and punish mockery or transgression. Rewarded actions include allowing people to comb or remove lice from her hair, after which helpers may receive folkloric gifts (attested variants include a never-ending clew of yarn, a spindle covered with many strands, or leaves that will turn to gold if kept). If mocked, sneered at, or otherwise offended she is said to take revenge by "breathing on" offenders (causing illnesses such as a rash), by perching oppressively on people, by driving off or frightening woodcutters, by stealing milk or spoiling berry-pickers' harvests, or by hitting sleeping herdsmen with a crutch. She is also used to explain natural phenomena—spring and autumn mountain fogs are said to be her cooking, and veiled mountains before April hailstorms signal her climbing over them. On certain liminal "holy nights" she travels with daughters or a retinue in a cart.