The church is built upon the site of the alleged miracle, the story concerning which is as follows:—Three centuries ago two cowherds were tending their flocks upon the upper pasture above Igls, when they were unfortunate enough to lose two young calves; and although they sought for them far and wide along the paths and amid the woods they failed to find them. At length, quite wearied out, and frightened lest they should be severely punished for their carelessness by their father, they fell on their knees and supplicated the Virgin and Saints to help them. Almost as soon as they commenced to pray a bright light fell upon them and round about, and the Virgin appearing beside them bade them be of good cheer, and told them to trouble no more as the lost cattle had gone home to their byre. Then she bade them drink, for their throats were parched with their wanderings. But the two lads, knowing there was no water near, exclaimed, "You tell us to drink, but where shall we find water? There is none here."
MOUNTAIN POOL ON THE RITTEN
The Virgin made no reply but vanished; and as she disappeared from their vision there welled up, where she had stood, a spring of clear water from out the rocks, which has never ceased to flow since.
On their return home the boys refrained from saying anything about the vision or the miraculous spring, perhaps lest, notwithstanding the calves had been found in the cowshed as the Virgin had promised, they should be blamed for careless herding. But they never failed, when passing by the spring, to offer up a prayer of gratitude.
Many years passed and the two cowherds not only grew to man's estate but became old and infirm, needing the assistance of others to look after their flocks. One of the two was aided by the deaf and dumb son of a neighbour, and one day, as the old man and boy were passing the spring, the former knelt down and prayed and drank of the water. The boy seeing him do this did likewise, and lo and behold he found his tongue miraculously loosened, and afterwards spoke as clearly as any other.
The fame of the miracle spread abroad, and was readily believed by the people of the valley. Then the two old men told their own experience, and soon a chapel was built on the spot to which through the centuries many devout pilgrims as well as many curious visitors have journeyed.
Amid the woods by which Igls is surrounded, and along the fertile valley in which the village stands, are many charming walks, and yearly the place is becoming more resorted to by those who appreciate the lovely and bracing mountain air, and a very pleasant form of what has become known as the "simple life."
To the south-west of Igls and south of Innsbruck across the Sill is the lovely Stubai Valley, the beauty of which almost challenges that of the Oetzthal. Like the latter this valley is also verily the gate to the land of snow-fields and glaciers, of which there are upwards of eighty within its confines and hard by. The Stubai Thal is a combination of scenery of widely different character. Within a radius of a few miles, towering above its green and peaceful pastures, at least two score of magnificent peaks rear their heads skyward, none of which fall far short of (whilst many exceed) 10,000 feet in altitude. The lower portion of the valley is reminiscent of the far-famed, music-loving Zillerthal, with its dark-green pine forests, fertile meadows, and villages perched here and there on the slopes of the mountains, or nestling in the valley itself around the white-walled churches. This kind of scenery extends some little way beyond the village of Neustift, which is the last in the valley having a church, and then one seems to at once pass into a mysterious, wonderful, and fascinating region, where the legendary gnomes and ice-maidens of Tyrolean folk-tales and lore must surely dwell in caverns and habitations of perpetual ice and snow.