Tales and legends - Fribourg Region

Echarlens A Country of Legends

Thematic trail.
More than twenty illustrated gruyerian legends are to be read between pastures, lake, the Sionge and forests. Region's views and historics

Fribourg Hubert Audriaz and the dragon

Hubert Audriaz is one of Fribourg’s iconic figures. As well as being a busy artist, community leader and former ice-hockey player, it was Hubert who came up with the idea of making the dragon the mascot of Fribourg’s ice hockey club, HC Gottéron.

La Gruyère Cathiau's Churn

In the hills of Riaz, at the forest's edge, with a magnificent Alpine view, stood the dilapidated home of a strange family. Stranger yet, no one knew where these "avinieros" (drunkards) as locals called them, came from.

La Gruyère Catillon the witch

Catherine "Catillon" Repond, known to the public as Touâscha or "The Deformed One" due to her hunchback, was born August 18, 1663 and lived with her two sisters in the father's family home in Villarvolard.

La Gruyère Chalamala

The Gruyere Court, which united the simplicity of pastoral mores with the pomp of chivalry, delighted at their court jesters for centuries: Girard Chalamala was the last.

La Gruyère Cretzillan's cross

Crètzillan was an old skinflint who lived five centuries ago in the pretty village of Grandvillard. The people of the village were a happy lot, they enjoyed their fun and games, but they were also pious and went to Mass devotedly. Crètzillan was an exception.

La Gruyère Djan de la Bolyèta

Djan de la Bolyèta was the kind, helpful goblin who served the pasture land of Tsuatzô. He served it well, it was one of the best most appreciated of the alpine summer pasture lands.

La Gruyère Gargantua, the Giant

Of all the benevolent giants who lumbered through the mountains during the legendary "golden age", Gargantua was, apparently, undoubtedly the most gigantic. He was massive.

La Gruyère Gruérius, the warlord

Nearly two millenniums ago, following close on the legendary age of giants, goblins and good fairies, the uninhabited regions surrounding the Sarine river were invaded by hardy tribes of Vandals and Burgudians who came from the North in search of new lands to settle and develop.

La Gruyère John the cripple

The Countess of Gruyère was beautiful, kind and warm-hearted. One could have thought that she had everything one could possibly desire. Unfortunately, however, she was sad, devastated in fact, because she had no children and, more importantly, no heir.

La Gruyère Lè Mithrètè

Lè Mithrètè is a very special type of wooden utensil. Shaped like a small, shallow pail with a handle, it is used for eating the thick rich Gruyère cream. Unexpectedly, it is also the nickname for the inhabitants of the village of La Roche and there is a story behind that, which goes way back, about 500 years ago.

La Gruyère St. Peter of Treyvaux

Saint Peter of Treyvaux was a very ancient village, built in the 9th century during the reign of Charlemagne around a chapel dedicated to St. Peter.

La Gruyère The blighthed abyss

Long ago, during an almighty mountain storm, an enormous rock suddenly broke away from the peak, took fire and hurled itself down to land in a clearing at the foot of the Moléson.

La Gruyère The brave women of Gruyères

Known to be kind-hearted, the women of Gruyères were also blessed with a fertile imagination. It was proven beyond doubt during one of the battles the Counts endured against the Bernese and Fribourgers.

La Gruyère The Bridge at Thusy

One rainy Sunday in 1544, discussions of all types were going strong amongst the men in the local pub of Pont-la-Ville. The elders were discussing serious subjects like their crops, their livestock or their forests but the young men were comparing the various merits of the young ladies of their village with the reputed merits of the young ladies who lived on the other side of the Sarine river.

La Gruyère The bull from Bulle

The day after the St. Denis fair, people gathered round the linden tree in downtown Bulle, not to gossip about their shopping or to brag about cattle, but to listen, mesmerized, to the strange tale told by one of theirs. But let the hero tell his own story...

La Gruyère The golden age

When the beautiful spring season warms up in the valleys and is on the verge of merging into the fullness of summer, the mountains shed their white winter attire and begin to deck themselves out in varying shades of green.

La Gruyère The hunter of everdes

The stronghold of Everdes was built on a hill overlooking the Sarine between Corbières and Vuippens. It was destroyed by the Bernese in 1449 and nowadays only a few crumbing ruins hidden in the forest remain.

La Gruyère The Lessoc fountain

A good man named Colin went to the fair in Château-d'Oex to drum up business for himself. On his way home, he stopped at the Jaman Inn in Montbovon, not just for drink mind you, but as a courtesy to his old childhood friends.

La Gruyère The origins of the ranz des vaches

High in the mountains, the last rays of sunshine fought valiantly until dusk, when night, victorious, took control of the hills and valleys. François the armailli, stepped out one last time, lifting his hoarse voice joyously to the alp opposite where his cherished Rose lay in her father's high mountain pasture.

La Gruyère The red horned goat

At the Gros Plané, half-way up the mighty Moléson, the soil is still red and has been so ever since the red-horned goat was slain by an "armailli" defending his herd of cattle.

La Gruyère The Redhoods

Long, long ago, in ancient times, before cowled and robed monks traipsed through the countryside to preach Christianity, the wild mountain valleys were uninhabited and the flatlands in the lower Sarine valley were scattered with farmsteads where farming families cared for their livestock, tended their fields and lived peacefully.