Oct 18, 2025
Hanns Lohrer: “Frau Holle” (“Mother Holle”, “Mother Hulda” or “Old Mother Frost”)
Frau Holle (also known as Holla, Perchta, Berchta, Berta, or Bertha) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Children's and Household Tales in 1812. She was initially a pre-Christian legendary figure. The name may be cognate of the Scandinavian creature known as the Hulder (or Hulda). In Norwegian folklore, she is known as Huldra (though folklore presupposes that there is an entire Hulder race). She is known as the Skogsrå "forest spirit" or Tallemaja "pine tree Mary" in Swedish folklore, and Ulda in Sámi folklore. She may be the same being as the völva divine figure Huld and the German Holda.
