Without the old legend of Countess Emma von Lesum and her donation of Bürgerweide the history of the common pasture remains incomplete. However, in terms of its veracity this delightful story resembles the fairy tale of the Bremen Town Musicians and has been handed down through Friedrich Wagenfeld's imaginativeness as a story-teller.
Countess Emma von Lesum, a woman of extraordinary charity and devoutness, is said to have donated the coveted pasture to the people of Bremen in 1032.
The way this donation took place is the actual heart of this folktale. While riding through the town of Bremen accompanied by her brother-in-law and heir, Duke Benno von Sachsen, the countess encountered a delegation of the Bürgerschaft (parliament), which took advantage of the opportunity to complain to her about the lack of pastureland for its livestock.
The lamentation was successful. Countess Emma granted the supplicants exactly the amount of land that a man could walk around from sunrise to sunset.
Worried about his share of the inheritance, however, cunning Benno selected for this task a cripple standing at the side of the road who summoned up all his strength and with great steadfastness crawled his way around the desired pastureland in the end to everyone's amazement.
This Bremen saga led to numerous acknowledgements of the noble countess. As a result, a number of monuments were put up in her honour in Bürgerpark. Emmasee was named after her and the Emma Bench was installed in her honour and tells her saga in the form of an inscription. Emmastrasse, located near the park in the Bremen district of Schwachhausen, was also named after her.
Although Countess Emma von Lesum was a real person, her donation of Bürgerweide has not been documented. The "cripple" at the foot of Bremen's Roland presumably has a totally different significance. Nevertheless, this popular tale tells one of the most delightful stories in the history of Bremen.
