South of Bozen, from Etschtal to Schlern, such was the empire of the dwarf king Laurin.

Deep in the earth’s interior, in a crystal castle far underground lived the King. Thousands of dwarfs were his subjects. They mined immeasureable riches in gold, silver and gems from the rocks for their master and filled his treasure chamber with precious jewellery.

But above ground, in the light of the sun, amidst a maze of stony cliffs, the King had layed out a splendid garden in which many magnificent trees and blossoming shrubs, beautiful flowers and fragrant roses, roses without number gave pleasure to heart and eye. This splendid magical garden was encircled only with golden thread; whilst anyone passing by could enjoy the view, nobody dared to break throuh the golden thread or to walk in the garden without the King’s permission: for this would have brought instant death.

One day king Laurin kidnapped a princess into whom he had fallen in love. This kidnapping evoked a fight between the kingdoms gentleman in which King Laurin was beaten. Laurin realized soon that the soldiers had found and defeated him just because of his eye-catching rose garden. King Laurin execrated its traitorously rosery. Nobody should see his roses ever again, they should become stony, day and night. But king Laurin forgot about the twilight, which is neither day nor night. That´s why Catinaccio Mountains, at twilight, are still shining like a rose garden. This should remind us of the kingdom of Laurin and his dwarfs.

Even today, the area around Bozen, where King Laurin once had his overground empire, still resembles a rose garden, and part of this wild mountainous area still carries the name ‘the rose garden’. Of an evening, when the sun sends forth its rays, the cliffs shine blood red, visible deep into the valley of Inn. The Harnisch King Laurin was kept safe in Schloss Tyrol until the late middle ages until one day he sadly disappeared without a trace.

Source: The most wonderful sagas from Austria