Today we had a great tour with one of the members in our branch. She was on her vacation from work so she spent the morning with us showing us around. One of the places she took us was to her town or dorf where she grew up - Pfullendorf. It has the oldest house in southern Germany, built about 1317. We took some great pictures. The dorf is on a hill and has most of the old city wall around it. She told 4 great stories about her dorf. The key words I used to remember them are bread, dog, bell, and rope.
1. At times the dorf had armies come and try to take over the town. One came from Sweden in the early 1600's and was approaching the town. A lady living outside of town saw them coming and they camped outside her home. She heard what they were planning and worried how she would get the message to the town. She wrote a note and baked it inside a loaf of bread and then sent a servant to give it to the mayor. He noticed it was still warm so he thought it would make a good meal. As he cut into the loaf, he found the note inside. He quickly had the guards bring in the flocks, close the city gates and stopped the invaders.
2. At another time an army was approaching and they had the farmers bring all the herds inside the city walls. One of those who lived near the gates had a favorite dog he fed very well, making the dog rather plump. As the soldiers approached, they noticed this well fed dog. They figured the people were all well supplied since they had enough even to feed their dogs well, so they would not succeed in laying siege around the city, so they left.
3. This next is a story how Jesus Christ became a citizen of Pfullendorf. Once they had an Emperor visit on a celebration commemorating an event in Jesus' life, and they only rang some small bells. He asked why they didn't ring the large church bells in the Catholic church. The citizens explained they only rang their large church bells to remember favorite citizens of the city. The Emperor paid 50 Gilder to buy citizenship for Jesus so they would ring the large church bells for Him.
4. One more army story. The men of the city had learned how to make a rope with pieces of leather attached to the end that when whipped would make the sound of a gunshot. When an army was approaching, they placed men around the city to whip the ropes making it sound like ammunition was going off. The army thought if the city had enough ammunition to shoot for fun, they would run out of ammunition before they could take over the city so they too departed. Even now in the summertime they have competitions between the different ages who can make the best gunshot sounds with the ropes with leather attached.
Sis. Hofmann lived on a farm outside the dorf which her father farmed for 33 years (in the valley of Andelsbach). She grew up and went to school there. Once her sister went on holiday who lived in another city, and asked her to stay and take care of her home while she was gone. It was while staying there the missionaries knocked on the door, bringing her the gospel. She served a mission in Munich and is a strong member of our branch.
This is the street named after the woman who saved the city (Loaf of Bread story)
This is inside the Catholic church in the city.(The painting is in the ceiling --->.)
The "road" runs around the church. On this side, it gets a bit narrow. If you look closely, there are gashes in the opposite wall where trucks didn't quite make it through. We drove through here twice.
This is the oldest house in southern Germany. It was built (according the plaque below) between 1317 and 1357. In the picture it shows Sister B. looking up at the house. The wall of the city was broken at this point so a road could go through here. A lot of the city wall is still in place.
My kids loved the stories! Wow! Thanks for sharing :).
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