The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), ' ("The Vulture Wally: A Story from the Tyrolean Alps"). Wally, short for Walburga, is a girl with some heroic attributes. The story is based on an episode in the life of Tyrolean painter Anna Stainer-Knittel whom von Hillern met. She gets her "Geier" (vulture) epithet from once stealing a vulture's hatchling from her nest. Von Hillern's piece was originally serialized in "Deutsche Rundschau", and was reproduced in English as "A German Peasant Romance", in the "Cornhill Magazine" in July 1875.