4. The Hansjosab to the Tärra

Not so long ago, old Michael from Weissenried had to feed his cattle every evening "zur Tärra". One day, Michael asked his neighbour, Hansjosab: "Could you please feed my cattle tonight? I'm going to the St Catherine's market in Sierre tomorrow and have to set off at the crack of dawn."

Hansjosab was happy to help his neighbour and set off at dusk, well equipped, to the "Tärra". The "Hirtun" went quickly and swiftly, and soon afterwards the shepherd lay down tired in the straw. He had barely fallen asleep when he thought someone had opened the front door. The next moment the parlour door opened and "something" was standing by his bed.

Hansjosab stretched out his right hand as if in defence. Another, ice-cold hand grabbed it and squeezed it hard for a short time and after the first, a second grabbed it, then a third and after that another and then another - probably more than four hundred cold hands squeezed the shocked man's hand. Without him being able to move or recognise anyone in the darkness. When the "last one" had gone out, the doors were closed again and the Hansjosab finally tried to sleep. His hand had become as cold as a glacier and in the morning he could only feed and milk the cattle with difficulty.

The next time he met Michael in the village, he said to him: "You should have told me that your little house in Tärra doesn't belong to you alone... Because I've had a creepy visitor!

"Yes, that's right! I forgot to tell you that the poor souls pass by there on Quatember days when they come from the glacier. But don't be sorry that you let the poor feel your warmth; they will repay you."
And that was the end of the story.

Hansjosab had long forgotten the eerie experience and his encounter with the cold fellows of the "Tärra" when he was caught in an avalanche on his way to the shepherd in the middle forest. When it threatened to cover him, an ice-cold hand grabbed him and pulled him out of the masses of snow, so that he thought he was always floating above the avalanche. When he was sitting on the avalanche cone in the snow, unharmed but with a storm in his head and thoroughly shaken, he suddenly remembered what Michael had said to him many years ago: "Don't regret it; the poor souls will repay you and perhaps even reach out to you one day."

The Goori's point is that helpfulness always pays off sooner or later ...