3.1 Methods of obtaining millstones in folklore

In the seemingly anecdotal accounts of the narrative type ATU 1247 The Man Sticks his Head into the Hole of the Millstone, there is interesting information on the acquisition of millstones. For example, in a Kashubian narrative, objects of this type are found on a hill and are remnants of a former windmill. The inhabitants want to use them in a newly built mill (Sędzicki 1987, 159). In another version known from Friedrich Lorentz’s collection, the stones are simply lying on a hill and nothing is known of their origin (Lorentz 1905, 6–7). Millstones are known to be the most durable item of windmill equipment. They remained intact after the demolition or destruction of the building and in certain situations could be reused.

More interesting are the tales recorded by German folklorists in what is today northern Poland, including Żelazno in Kashubia and Sianów in Central Pomerania, in which the motif of making millstones appears (DM 1247 Kopf in Muhlestein, in: Uther 2015, 310). In these examples, millstones are carved in situ on hills from boulders found there: “Ein anderes Mal behauten die Zelasener einen Mühlstein auf einen Berge.” (Knoop 1885, 46):

Die Zanower wollten einst eine Mühle bauen und hatten zwei Mühlsteine auf einem Berge behauen. Das Herunterbringen verursachte ihnen aber große Schwierigkeit. Einen Stein hatten sie glücklich heruntergebracht und quälten sich nun beim zweiten […]. (Knoop 1891, 195–196)

However, Karl Rosenow’s collection contains a variant of the tale with information about selecting a boulder field and problems with transporting millstones once made. After building a mill, the inhabitants of Sianów decided to carve two stones on a nearby hill. The choice of place was dictated by the large number of boulders that had been on the hill since “ancient times” (“alter zeit”). One can only speculate as to whether these were erratic boulders or megalithic tombs (Hünengrab) made from erratic boulders, which were associated with the activities of giants or the devil (Evans 1938; Kościelna, Matuszewska 2015). Common in Pomerania and Mecklenburg in the nineteenth century, they are now also an important feature of the cultural landscape (Holtorf 2010). After two boulders were selected, millstones were carved from them. The work was not easy, but transporting the stones was even more problematic. This anecdote mentions jacks and joists (Rosenow 1924, 46). These devices were intended to facilitate the lifting and transportation of the stone objects. A similar motif occurs in regions far from Pomerania. Suffice it to mention a tale from Brandenburg from the collection Die Deutschen Volksbücher Für Jung und Alt Wiedererzählt by Gustav Schwab (Schwab 1843, 348–349). Probably due to their association with vernacular rather than monumental craft traditions, these narratives were transmitted within the local community.

The choice of a hill as the setting for the action can be interpreted in two ways. The first is as a plot device that facilitates the presentation of the breakneck attempt to roll the millstone and to emphasise the comical aspect of the entire situation. The second is as a reference both to the supposed locations of windmills (Rzepkowski 2015, 12–13) and to the stonemasonry practices of making quernstones and millstones in the place where the appropriate material is found (Baug 2006). In the areas of the last glaciation, erratic boulders occur in large numbers and appropriate sizes on moraine plateaus (and in the valleys thereof) formed during the disappearance of the ice sheet, and less frequently on outwash lowlands. A perfect example of this is the Dylewskie Hills in Masuria, where many erratic boulders are located on hills or hillslopes:

Dylewska Góra forms a highland with gentle slopes. To the east, there are many gullies and streams that belong to the Drwęca basin, which flows around the rise in a wide arc to the north, while the Welle River skirts the farthest upland branches to the south. There are so many stones everywhere that ‘one walks as if through a city of ruins’. Arranged in long rows or embankments, stones also separate individual cornfields from one another, and large piles of smaller and larger boulders stick out from among fields of cereals and potatoes. The ploughman’s plough brings up ever new masses of them. (Srokowski 1929, 40)

There is documented information about building material being obtained from these boulders (Gałązka/Skrobot/Szarzyńska 2015, 32–33). Many of them bear traces of attempts to break them up (Gałązka/Skrobot/Szarzyńska 2015, among others 50, 62, 70). It can be assumed with a high degree of probability that some of the erratic boulders were used to make millstones. This hypothesis is supported by the example of the so-called “Finckenstein border stone” from 1786, which – until the day of its theft – was located at the intersection of the borders of three towns near the Dylewskie Hills. It was an unfinished millstone. This semi-finished product was used as a boundary stone for unknown reasons. A similar use of millstones is mentioned by, among others, D. G. Tucker (Tucker 1977, 27). Another example is a semi-finished millstone that has been preserved to this day that originates from the hills of a moraine plateau near the town of Dębogórze (Kępa Pucka), which was most likely subject to an attempt to transport it from further up the moraine hill or was made on the hillslope. Interestingly, this semi-finished product was, according to local tradition, tossed by the devil. In this example, one can see reminiscences of images of giants throwing boulders, and sometimes millstones, or wearing millstones instead of collars (Hass 1902, 78; Jegerlehner 1918, 342; Handwӧrterbuch … 1935, 611–614).

3.2 Millstone processing methods

To confirm the validity of these tropes, let us consider memorates first published in the first half of the nineteenth century by August E. Preuss. An erratic boulder from Rombinus hill near Niemen was used by a local miller to produce millstones (Preuss, 1835, 523). This met with the dissatisfaction of the local community, which considered the boulder to be an ancient sacrifice stone (Tettau, Temme 1837, 162–165). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the tradition of leaving coins and small personal items on the boulder in gratitude for successful ventures was still alive (Thiel 1804, 7). Such behavior had been recorded in this area earlier by Caspar Hanneberger, a cartographer and historian associated with the former Duchy of Prussia (Hanneberger 1584, 10). The memory of using the boulder for millstones was still alive in the twentieth century: “In 1811, Germans destroyed this sacrifice stone by turning it into mill wheels.” (Srokowski 1947, 14) The narrative variant published in the book Sagenbuch das Preusischen Staats contains a lot of information about the process of making millstones. According to this narrative, a miller named Schwarz needed new millstones for a windmill standing near Rombinus hill. Fearing the reaction of the local community, which venerated the boulder, he sought permission from the local authorities to use the object for his purposes. Despite offering rich remuneration, he could not find anyone in the local community willing to work on breaking the boulder, which was due to the veneration in which the object was held. The task was undertaken by men from distant towns. The size of the boulder made it impossible to transport it, so the work was carried out on site. According to some information, the stone was blown up with dynamite (Chlebowski 1888, 735). While carving millstones from the material obtained, one of the men lost an eye, and another died while returning home. We can only guess that he may have suffered internal trauma as a result of lifting heavy rock fragments. These were not the only workers who suffered accidents while working on the sacred stone (Grӓsse 1871, 643–644). In another example, the description of the injuries is very detailed and concerns three employees:

Jetzt gingen die vier Männer zum Rombinus hinauf und begannen die Arbeit. Der Müller tat den ersten Schlag auf den Stein, da fuhren zwei Splitter davon, die schossen ihm in die Augen, daß er also bald erblindete und blind blieb sein Lebelang; vielleicht, daß er noch am Leben ist. Der Geselle aus Tilsit krellte sich beim zweiten Schlag, den er tat, den Arm so stark, daß ihm die Markröhre zersprang und er einen dritten Schlag nicht tun konnte. Aber den beiden andern Gesellen geschahe nichts, sie ließen sich auch nicht warnen, überwältigten den Stein und schafften ihn vom Berge herab. Als aber der Gumbinner Geselle nach getaner Arbeit wieder in seine Heimat wanderte, hat er diese nimmer erreicht und ist elendiglich am Wege hinter einem Zaun verstorben. Die goldene Schüssel und die silberne Egge, von der die Sage ging, hat keiner gefunden. Seit der Stein hinweg war, begann der Memelstrom am Berge zu arbeiten und zu nagen und ihn zu unterhöhlen, und im Jahre 1835, im September, geschahe nachts ein donnerähnliches Krachen und war ein großes Stück des Rombinus eingestürzt, und viele fürchteten, es werde noch mehr einstürzen und die alte Unglücksprophezeiung sich erfüllen. (Bechstein 1853, 207–208)

Millstones made from a revered boulder thus brought bad luck to their owners. The narrative also includes information about the sale of an upper stone (a runner stone) to a water mill in Tylża. This can be assumed to have been a semi-finished product that was adjusted and cut to the appropriate size on site (Grӓsse 1871, 644). Of great interest, in light of the group of stories analysed here, are narratives identifying erratic boulders with traces of stone working carried out to prepare millstones and quernstones as sacrifice stones. One tale concerns the so-called sacrifice stone from Quoltitz on the island of Rügen [Opferstein von Quoltitz]:

In der Nähe von Quoltitß bei Sagard breitet sich ein kleines Thal aus, in dessen Mitte ein einzelner grauer Stein liegt, welcher für einen Opferstein ausgegeben wird. Derselbe hat eine länglich runde Form ist am Nordende zugespitzt und oben ziemlich glatt abgeplattet. Quer über die obere Platte läuft eine Furche oder Rille, durch welche das Blut des Opfertieres abgeleitet wurde. Unter derselben befinden Sich fünf ziemlich runde Vertiefungen, in welche, wie die Leute sagen, der Opferpriester die Blutgrapen oder Opfer schalen gesetzt hat. (Hass 1903, 77–78)

The narratives about the Quoltitz sacrifice stone are attempts to give ontological meaning to a geocultural object that is difficult to unambiguously define (an erratic and anthropogenic traces). Only through analysis of the object can we discover the source of the anthropogenic changes and the purpose of the boulder. It is most likely one of the many boulders from which millstones and quernstones were forged (Sommer-Scheffler 2001, 46).

Large erratic boulders were difficult to transport, so millstones were pre-processed where they were found (See Tucker 1987, plate 6, 178; Wahl-Clerici et al., 388). A good example of this is found in a legend from the Chmielno area in Kashubia. A miller is trying to forge a millstone from an erratic by his own hand. The boulder lay by a road, some distance from the windmill:

[…] there once was a millstone on the road to Kosy. Even though it was still useable, it lay there for a long time because no one dared to move it. It was known throughout the area that in the old days the devil had carried this boulder on his shoulders so that he could block the door to the church, but the ‘demon’ was a little late, so before he could do his evil deed, the cock crowed, and the boulder fell to the ground. However, the devil seemingly had some other ill plans for the boulder, because he watched over it constantly and did not allow it to be moved. […] A miller in Chmielno had the stone in his mill wear away […] He overcame his measure of fear and set about working it [the boulder] to his needs. However, the work was oddly slow, though sweat poured from his brow. (Orłowski 1938, 5)

The boulder was hard to work, and the miller had to replace damaged chisels. Despite the devil offering help, he did not agree and finally drove him out, calling on the name of the Lord God. Afterwards, the miller was warned against taking the stone to the windmill because it would only bring him misfortune. According to the legend, the unfinished millstone – a semi-finished product – was built into a corner of a cemetery wall (Orłowski 1938, 6). Unfortunately, during the ethnographic fieldwork carried out in 2023 in this locality, the semi-fabric was not found. Also, the memory of this legend among the locals has disappeared.

In addition to the information about the miller carving the millstone himself where it lay, the mention of difficulties in working the boulder seems to be important. Some types of erratic boulders were not suitable for processing due to their structure, and the result was unsatisfactory. Perhaps this narrative reflects just such a situation. The correlation of the hard-to-work stone with the demonic world is also not mere coincidence. In folk tradition, that which is useless (for example: swamps, large erratic boulders) assumes devilish characteristics and is associated with the demonic world (Ramułt 1893, 294, no. 3; Lorentz 1934, 121–122; Niebrzegowska 427–436). The physical features of the object acquired negative values, which were interpreted as resulting from the boulder’s diabolical provenance. This can be seen as a bottom-up geomorphological interpretation within a geomitological perspective (Vitalian 1968, 1973; Mayor 2004). Some analogies can be seen here to the memorates concerning the huge boulder from Rombinus hill in Lithuania. In the Lithuanian example, the boulder was linked to ancient deities, and the one from Kashubia was linked to the devil. In both cases, millstones made from them were thought to bring bad luck.

The folk tale published by Orłowski features three motifs referring to a boulder and a millstone:

1. The motif of the devil carrying a boulder to destroy a church.

2. The motif of a local miller making a millstone from an erratic boulder.

3. The motif of a semi-finished product being built into a cemetery wall.

The last motif relates to the practice of embedding semi-finished products and millstones into the walls of various buildings. Unfortunately, there are fewer narratives interpreting this phenomenon than examples of the tradition of reusing of millstones.

3.3 Millstones in the wall: Example of Gdańsk

The first narrative that we would like to present is related to a millstone in a no-longer-existent section of the defensive wall surrounding Gdańsk. The collection Sagenbuch des Preußischen Staats contains an account of a miller buying a millstone in Gdańsk. Unfortunately, he stopped at an inn near the city walls and got drunk. The stone was stolen and used in the construction of the city wall:

Als er aber am andern Morgen aufstand, sah er keinen Mühlstein mehr, die lustigen Zechbrüder hatten, als er zu Bett gegangen war, seine in der Trunkenheit gethane Aeußerung, wer den Stein fortbringe, könne ihn auch behalten, wahr gemacht, sie hatten ihn nach dem Stadtthore zu gewälzt und schenkten ihn der Stadtgemeinde, welche ihn bei dem Neubau der Stadt mauer mit als Material benutzte und hier ist er noch nördlich vom hohen Thore zu sehen. (Grässe 1871, 584–585)

In this variant, the miller buys the millstone. Of course, this tale was intended to explain the provenance of a once-visible millstone embedded in the wall surrounding Gdańsk. However, the socio-economic context of purchasing a millstone – a semi-finished product – in a port city is entirely credible and most likely accurate. Gdańsk served for centuries as a large and important trade centre. Wood, tar, ash, and grain were floated down to here from the south, and ships arrived at the port carrying, among other things, semi-finished millstones that were then sold around the city, and some were sailed south up the Vistula.^[2]

There is another variant of this story that was published seventy years later. However, in this example it is the miller who brings the millstone to Gdańsk from around Puck (Putziger Land). The area extending south of Puck includes a belt of terminal moraines that was formerly rich in erratic boulders that were variously exploited. This is confirmed by a semi-finished millstone made from an erratic boulder on Dębowa Góra near the Zaklęty Zamek forester’s lodge (Miszewski 2014). This stone is called the “devil’s stone” by inhabitants of the surrounding towns and is identified as a stone tossed by the devil (from my own research). It was probably carved with a nearby windmill in mind (figure 1) (Miszewski 2014).

Fig. 1:

A semi-finished millstone made from an erratic boulder on Dębowa Góra near the Zaklęty Zamek forester’s lodge. It is called the “devil’s stone” (photo: Monika Piotrowska)

The miller in the legend transports a millstone from near Puck to Gdańsk, most likely for commercial purposes. As in the previous version, the stone is embedded into the wall surrounding the city:

Es ist schon viele hundert Jahre her. Da war ein Müller aus dem Putziger Land mit seinem Fuhrwerk unterwegs nach Danzig. Kurz vor der Stadt kehrte er in einen Krug ein, um daselbst zu übernachten. „Meinen Wagen kannst du vor dem Krug stehen lassen,“ sagte der Müller zum Wirt, „da liegt nur ein Mühlstein drauf.“ – „Und du meinst, der liegt dort gut!“ nickte der Krugwirt dem Müller zu. „Ja, das mein ich“, erwiderte der Müller, „wer mir diesen Mühlstein fortschleppt, der soll ihn gern behalten.“ (Müller 1942, 92–93)

Millstones made from erratic boulders were brought to the city and could be used in Gdańsk mills as a cheaper substitute for stones from the Rhineland. It was not without reason that the Great Mill in Gdańsk employed stonemasons who not only supervised the condition of the working stones, but were also responsible for making new ones, probably from materials at hand, i. e. from boulders commonly found in the area (Trzoska 1975, 69). A perfect example of a narrative reflecting the specificity of local everyday life is the example of motifs ATU 1247 The Man Sticks his Head into the Hole of the Millstone, in which the inhabitants of the coastal town of Büsum try to load a millstone onto a ship. The undertaking – in line with the nature of the tales with this folk type – ends tragicomically (Ofterding 1891, 191–192).

If we accept the geocultural context as an important factor shaping the form and content of the narrative, we can assume that the millstone mentioned in the legend was made from a local erratic boulders left in these areas by the retreating ice sheet, and the motif of loading the stone onto a ship itself reflects events in the life of a port city.

3.4 Millstones in church walls: object of memory and memory of object

A separate group consists of tales with the motif of a millstone built into a church wall. Churches with millstones built into them are found in many towns in north-western Masovia (for example Bodzanów, Wyszogród, Krysk, Płońsk), Pomerania (for example Osieki Koszalińskie, Sianów, Podgórki Zimowiska), and Eastern Germany (for example Falkenhein, Giesmannsdorf, Rottstock, Miersdorf). Unfortunately, they have been identified by residents to only a very limited extent, as proven by ethnographic field research conducted since 2021 in Pomerania and Mazovia as part of the project “The memory of stones. Origin, use and sacralization of millstones embedded in walls of Gothic churches within the Southern Baltic Lowlands”. In Podgórki in Central Pomerania, there are traces of legends according to which the millstone is a penance stone and the miller embedded it into the wall as a punishment. However, in Zimowiska – a village near Ustka – residents identify the millstone, which is located at the main entrance to the church, as a place of penance for sinners. In this motif one can find analogies to the tradition of so-called stones of shame (das Steintragen), which some researchers even associated with quernstones (figure 2a and 2b) (Steininger 1973). Importantly, in smaller towns, stones of shame were often brought to the church, or the convicted person carried them around the church (Wettlaufer 2011, 348–350). In Rottstock, residents associate the millstone with the activity of the devil or a donation from a wealthy miller. However, in Miersdorf, information about the Slavic origin of a stone embedded in the lower part of the church tower has been passed down from generation to generation.

Fig. 2a and 2b:

The millstone, which is located at the main entrance to the church, is known as a place of penance for sinners (photos: Monika Piotrowska)

The set of narratives from the turn of the twentieth century is equally sparse. So far, we have managed to identify only four written records relating to three objects:

In the tower of the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Warsaw there is a semi-finished product made from an erratic boulder. This leads us to the interpretation that the semi-finished product was made from local material. According to the preserved legend, this stone was laid by a miller impatient to have children who in a dream had a revelation that, to bring about his desired end, he should build a chapel on a hill on the banks of the Vistula. He found the place, but the foundations of the church had already been built, so he built a tower next to it and placed the semi-finished or unfinished millstone at its base (Wiadomość historyczna o kościele parafialnym … 1842, 95; Bartoszewicz 1855, 28–29). It was recorded that this tale was preserved among the fishermen on the Vistula. Taking into account the fact that no water mills were built on the Vistula River, it can be assumed that the millstone – a semi-finished product in the church tower – had been intended for a windmill or boatmill. If the information about the popularity of this tale among people associated with the river is true, there is a chance that it was about a miller working on a boatmill – a facility typical of large rivers, including the Vistula (Brykała/Podgórski 2020, 6). These mills were floating units (Brykała et al. 2022). Importantly, the stone in question was clearly identified as a sign of a miller’s donation and a record of the initiative of an unknown miller. Some analogies can also be found in a legend from Pułtusk connecting millstones built into the walls of the former church of the Blessed Virgin Mary that currently serves as a branch of the National Archive in Warsaw. These were thought to be contributions by local millers to the construction of the church. In response to this gesture by the miller’s guild, Pułtusk bakers donated round or oval stones (stone balls) imitating the shape of loaves (Makowiecki 1876, 13). In another version, craftsmen installed their products in the church as it was being built, except that the bakers and millers had a problem with this:

The second legend is different. All the residents of Pułtusk contributed to the construction of the church. The mason gave bricks, the carpenter gave joints; the bellfounder – bells; the locksmith – locks and fittings; the joiner – doors and benches; the glazier – glass panes, the painter – interior decorations, etc. And when everyone gave something to the church, it could be seen by all – because everyone could see the walls, locks, windows, etc. Meanwhile, the bakers and millers could not give anything that would be visible over the centuries – because neither bread nor flour could build a temple. So they decided to supply stones for the walls, in the shape of millstones and loaf-shaped balls instead of bricks. And so that their gifts would be as visible as those of other craftsmen, they embedded some of these stones and balls in the outer walls of the church. This church has now been dedicated to the use of evangelists. (Korespondencya z Pułtuska 1897, 234)

In the case of the church in Osieki Koszalińskie, there is a certain relationship that allows us to connect the three millstones embedded above the main entrance with the Eucharistic Miracle from the turn of the fifteenth century (Jędryka 1994, 79–80). Yet neither in the source materials, nor in the tale or legend about the bleeding host, nor in the song about this miracle, is there anything linking the three millstones with this event (Micraelius 1639, 644; Temme 1840, 115–116; Łysiak 2010, 107–109). However, the millstone in the wall of the church tower in the town of Brück-Rottstock south of Berlin was said to have been tossed by the devil, who was angry at a miller who had taken refuge in the church tower (Pic. No 3) (Brachwitz 1937, 62–63; Hesse 2018, 58–60). This legend fits into the group of geomythical narratives about giants throwing boulders and trying to destroy churches (Motz 1982, 82–83; Simpson, Roud 2000, 144). It is worth noting that giants are primal figures compared to later devils, as may be supported by the findings of Michael Witzel (Witzel 2012, 342).

Fig. 3:

The tower of the church in Rottstock with the millstone “thrown by the devil” visible. The gravestones of millers associated with the village of Rottstock are visible in the lower part of the illustration (photos: Robert Piotrowski)

In eastern Europe, the exposition of millstones was sometimes associated with the activities of saints. An example is the millstone of St Anthony the Roman, which was exposed in the wall of the church of the monastery in Nowogród Wielki, and on which St Anthony was supposed to have sailed from Rome (Makarow 1984). Due to the many possible interpretations, it is difficult to clearly determine the semantic status of millstones embedded in church walls (Peacock 2013, 169–172; Watts 2014, 40–42; Brykała/Lamparski 2021).