The
Seven Giants
How the Seven Mountains came into being (the legend)
Once upon a time, River Rhine did not flow from its spring in Switzerland through Germany and the Netherlands into the North Sea as it does today. Close to a little town, the future Königswinter, a range of hill stopped its flow, and the waters dammed up to a big sea, whereas the village remained without water.
The citizens suffered
greatly from this situation and wondered what to do. Finally they hired seven very strong
giants, to dig a canal through the range of hills so that River Rhine could continue its
flow.
The seven giants arrived, each one with a giant sized spade on his shoulder, and got to work. After three months, the job was done: the waters of the Rhine flowed freely depositing rich soil on both banks. The citizens were very happy.
After receiving their generous reward, the giants got ready for their way home.
However, they did not want to get home with their spades all dirty. Therefore they tapped their spades on the ground, and as clod upon clod fell from the spades onto the ground, little hills were formed that grew bigger and bigger..
When the seven giants shouldered their spades and went back home, they left seven hills behind them.
