The so-called Hirschsprung owes its name to a legend: one day, a knight from Falkenstein Castle went stag hunting. After some time, he spotted a magnificent stag, but the stag gave him a hard time because it was fast and agile. Driven by mortal fear, the stag leapt across the ravine with a mighty leap and escaped his pursuer.
Today, such a leap is almost inconceivable in view of the gorge, but it was not completely impossible at the time. The gorge was only 9 metres wide, but a stag can make downward leaps of up to 10 metres. Breitnau begins at this narrowest point of the Höllental.