The Origin of the Rammelsberg Mine, Near Goslar
The rich treasures of the Rammelsberg were discovered in 970, according to tradition, by accident.
Otto the Great hunted in the forest. His squire Ramm dismounted, tied his horse to a tree, and went after some game that had been shot. The impatient animal pawed and stamped, and his rider returning, found a glittering piece of silver ore laid bare.
Another story is, that the discovery was made by a servant girl in the mill at the base of the mountain.
She rose one morning before daybreak, and went out to gather wood, when she saw a fire burning on the mountain. She hurried to the spot, and found several men with white beards sitting around it.
Approaching them, she asked permission to take some of the burning coals to kindle her fire.
They gave no answer, but sat motionless and gazed upon the ground.
At last she took some coals, saying to herself, “No answer means yes,” carried them home and laid them on the hearth, but they would not burn. This she repeated several times, but the coals, once thrown on the hearth refused to burn.
At last it became broad day, and a great heap of gold lay on the hearth, and on the spot where she had seen the fire, lay only pebbles. Search was made, and the wealth of the mountain discovered.
A similar tradition, with slight variations, is told of the Burgmühle, or castle mill, near Aschersleben, on the Wolfsberg.
The tradition is quite as probable that Askanas, grandson of Noah, died on the Wolfsberg in 1964 after the Creation, having left the East a few centuries previously to escape idolatry.