In 1679, the Black Death raged in Europe. In Vienna, every day, many people died and were buried in simple mass graves. One day, a poor wandering minstrel called Augustin fell into one of these mass graves because he was heavily drunk after having spent all the money he had earned by singing for alcohol. When he woke up the next morning, he realized where he was. However, he was unable to climb out the grave, so he played the bagpipes, was heard and rescued. He did not even become infected with the Black Death – probably because he was so drunk. He sang about this experience at a pub called “Griechenbeisl”, became famous, and earned a lot of money. Even today, there is still a restaurant called “Griechenbeisl” at the very same location. The melody, however, was written down only around 1800, thus, we cannot be sure at all if the historic Augustin really sang this melody.