Frau Gauden. (Art by Charles Vess)
Frau Gauden, also known as the Boar Goddess, the Eternal Huntress, and Mutter Gauerken, is a being from the folklore of Mecklenburg.
Description[]
She is said to be cursed because she expressed to prefer eternally hunt rather than go to Heaven, and her daughters, who expressed the same desire, were transformed into small dogs who either pull her wagon or sled, or serve as hunting dogs. She is also one of the leaders of the Wild Hunt.
Overview[]
Frau Gauden is said to ride a carriage that suffers damage usually when she rides a crossroad, and then awakens and asks a local craftsman to repair her carriage with the craftsman unaware of her true identity. When he does Frau Gauden awards the craftsman with payment that usually appears to be worthless, such as wood shavings or even dog feces, but when the sun rises the payment she offers to the craftsman transmutes into pure gold.
She visits the homes of humans during the Twelve Nights of Christmas and punishes the lazy while sometimes rewarding the virtuous or those who help her. She is at her most powerful during the Twelve Nights of Christmas and sometimes even leaves phantom dogs within the abodes of people who are too lazy to lock their houses during the night properly. The dogs in question are bad omens that bring misfortune upon the household that they reside within until Frau Gauden returns the next year to collect them.