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{37}
In various parts of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria St. Nicholas is
mimed by a man dressed up as a bishop.{38} In Tyrol children pray to the
saint on his Eve and leave out hay for his white horse and a glass of
_schnaps_ for his servant. And he comes in all the splendour of a
church-image, a reverend grey-haired figure with flowing beard,
gold-broidered cope, glittering mitre, and pastoral staff. Children who
know their catechism are rewarded with sweet things out of the basket
carried by his servant; those who cannot answer are reproved, and St.
Nicholas points to a terrible form that stands behind him with a rod--the
hideous Klaubauf, a shaggy monster with horns, black face, fiery eyes,
long red tongue, and chains that clank as he moves.{39}
In Lower Austria the saint is followed by a similar figure called Krampus
or Grampus;{40} in Styria this horrible attendant is named Bartel;{41}
all are no doubt related to such monsters as the _Klapperbock_ (see
Chapter VII.). Their heathen origin is evident though it is difficult to
trace their exact pedigree. Sometimes St. Nicholas himself appears in a
non-churchly form like Pelzmaerte, with a bell,{42} or with a sack of
ashes which gains him the name of Aschenklas.


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