|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:33:09 GMT -5
grants
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:33:54 GMT -5
hobbits
Hobbits predate Tolkien by hundreds of year, but they still got their Trademark. Go figure.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:35:55 GMT -5
hobgoblins
A hobgoblin is a spirit of the hearth, typically appearing in folklore, reportedly once considered helpful but since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous.[1] Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his A Midsummer Night's Dream as a hobgoblin.[2]
The term "hobgoblin" comes from "hob" ("elf") and "goblin" ("mischievous and ugly fairy"); "Hob" is simply a rustic name for the countryside goblin, "a piece of rude familiarity to cover up uncertainty or fear". "Hob" is generally explained as a diminutive for "Robert",[2] and here short for "Robin Goodfellow".[3] The earliest instance of the word can be traced to about 1530, although it was likely in use for some time prior to that.
Folklore
Hobgoblin Hall, a 1904 drawing by Herbert Railton of William Wordsworth's house, Rydal Mount[citation needed] Hobgoblins seem to be small, hairy little men who, like their close relatives the brownies, are often found within human dwellings, doing odd jobs around the house while the family is asleep. Such chores are typically small tasks like dusting and ironing. Often, the only compensation necessary in return for these is food.
While brownies are more peaceful creatures, hobgoblins are more fond of practical jokes. They also seem to be able to shapeshift, as seen in one of Puck's monologues in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Robin Goodfellow is perhaps the most mischievous and most infamous of all his kind, but many are less antagonizing. Like other fae folk, hobgoblins are easily annoyed. They can be mischievous, frightening, and even dangerous.[4] Attempts to give them clothing will often banish them forever, though whether they are offended by such gifts or are simply too proud to work in new clothes differs from teller to teller.
Billy Blind is a clever hobgoblin or brownie found in several ballads collected by Francis James Child. Billy Blind helps humans in dramatic situations by offering valuable information and advice.[5][6][7][8]
Blue Burches is the name of a shapeshifting hobgoblin who played harmless pranks in the home of a shoemaker and his family on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset. His usual form was that of an old man wearing baggy blue breeches but he also took the form of a white horse, a black pig and a wisp of blue smoke. The family took his presence in good stride but some clergymen learned of his existence and banished him from the house.[9]
Robin Roundcap (not to be confused with Robin Redcap) haunted Spaldington Hall in Spaldington, East Yorkshire and was a hearth spirit of the true hobgoblin type. He helped thresh the corn and performed other domestic chores, but when he was in the mood for mischief he would mix the wheat and chaff again, kick over the milk pail, and extinguish the fire. He is said to have been confined in a well for a stipulated number of years through the prayers of three clergymen. This well is known as Robin Roundcap's Well.[10]
Dobby is another term for hobgoblin in Lancashire and Yorkshire according to the folklorist Elizabeth Mary Wright, especially one that is a relentless prankster. Much like the boggart, a dobby's pranks may become so troublesome that a family decides to move elsewhere, only to find that the dobby has followed them (one version of this tale involves Robin Roundcap). However, one Yorkshire dobby (or hob) lived in a cave and was noted for curing children of the whooping cough. Dobbies could be just as industrious as other hobgoblins and brownies, which led to the expression "Master Dobbs has been helping you" whenever a person has accomplished more work than was expected.[11]
Variants The bauchan is a Scottish domestic hobgoblin that is mischievous and belligerent but also very helpful when the need arises.[12]
The bwbach (or boobach, plural bwbachod) is a Welsh domestic hobgoblin that will perform household chores in return for bowls of cream. They are good-natured but mischievous and have a dislike of clergymen and teetotalers, upon whom they will play relentless pranks.[13]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:36:51 GMT -5
brown-men
The Simonside Dwarfs, also known as Brownmen, Bogles and Duergar, are a race of ugly dwarfs, particularly associated with the Simonside Hills of Northumberland, in northern England. Their leader was said to be known as Roarie.[1]
In F. Grice's telling of the traditional story The Duergar in Folk Tales of the North Country (1944), one of them is described as being short, wearing a lambskin coat, moleskin trousers and shoes, and a hat made of moss stuck with a feather.
The legendary dwarfs of Simonside were mentioned in the local newspaper, the Morpeth Gazette, in 1889, and in Tyndale’s Legends and Folklore of Northumbria, 1930. They delighted in leading travellers astray, especially after dark, often carrying lighted torches to lead them into bogs, rather like a Will-o'-the-wisp.[1] The menacing creatures would often disappear at dawn.
The word duergar is likely to be derived from the Old Norse word for dwarf or dwarfs (dvergar), but it may also come from the dialectal words for "dwarf" on the Anglo-Scottish border which include dorch, dwerch, duerch, Duergh and Duerwe amongst others [2][3][4] with the added Norse -ar plural.[2] These Border words for "dwarf", like the Standard English form, all derive from the Old English dweorh or dweorg via the Middle English dwerg.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:37:42 GMT -5
cowies
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:38:31 GMT -5
dunnies
A Dunnie is a small Brownie-like being in the folklore of the Anglo-Scottish borders, specifically Northumberland, the most famous being that of the Hazlerigg Dunnie of Hazlerigg in the parish of Chatton, Northumberland.[1] The Dunnie has been known to take the form of a horse in order to trick a rider into mounting him before disappearing and leaving them in the muddiest part of the road. He also is said to disguise as plough-horses only to vanish when the ploughman takes him into the stalls.[1]
The Dunnie was also said to wander the crags and dales of the Cheviots singing:
"Cockenheugh there's gear enough, Collierheugh there's mair, For I've lost the key o' the Bounders, (or "It is also "I've lost the key o' the Bowden-door.") An' I'm ruined for evermair."[1] The Dunnie is thus thought to be a ghost of a reiver who hoarded his loot in the fells and guards his ill-gotten gains to this day.[1]
In full the song of the dunnie goes:
"Cockenheugh there's gear enough, Collierheugh there's mair, For I've lost the key o' the Bounders" "Ross for rabbits, and Elwick for kail, Of a' the' towns e'er I saw Howick for ale: Howick for ale, and Kyloe for scrubbers, Of a' the towns e'er I saw Lowick for robbers;- Lowick for robbers, Buckton for breed, Of a' the towns e'er I saw Holy Island for need;- Holy Island for need, and Grindon for kye, Of a' the towns e'er I saw Doddington for rye:- Doddington for rye, Bowisdon for rigs, Of a' the towns e'er I saw Barmoor for whigs:- Barmour for whigs, Tweedmouth for doors, Of a' the towns e'er I saw Ancroft for whores:- Ancroft for whores, and Spittal for fishers, Of a' the towns e'er I saw Berrington for dishes."[2]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:39:30 GMT -5
wirrikows or Wirry-cow
In Scotland, a wirry-cow [ˈwɪɾɪkʌu, ˈwʌɾɪkʌu] was a bugbear, goblin, ghost, ghoul or other frightful object.[1] Sometimes the term was used for the Devil or a scarecrow.
Draggled sae 'mang muck and stanes, They looked like wirry-cows
— Allan Ramsay The word was used by Sir Walter Scott in his novel Guy Mannering.
The word is derived by John Jamieson from worry (Modern Scots wirry[2]), in its old sense of harassment[3] in both English[4] and Lowland Scots,[5] from Old English wyrgan cognate with Dutch wurgen and German würgen;[6] and cowe, a hobgoblin, an object of terror.[7][8]
Wirry appears in several other compound words such as wirry hen, a ruffianly character, a rogue;[9] wirry-boggle, a rogue, a rascal; and wirry-carle, a snarling, ill-natured person, one who is dreaded as a bugbear.[10]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:40:05 GMT -5
alholdes
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:40:20 GMT -5
mannikins
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:40:33 GMT -5
follets
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:40:42 GMT -5
korreds
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:41:51 GMT -5
lubberkins
The lubber fiend, Lob, lubberkin, lurdane or Lob Lie-By-The-Fire is a legendary creature of English folklore that is similar to the "brownie" (or "Urisk") of Scotland and northern England, the "hob" of northern England and the Scottish Borders, the Slavic "domovoi" and Scandinavian "tomte". It has been related also to Robin Goodfellow, and Hobgoblins. It is best known for being mentioned by John Milton.
The lubberkin is typically described as a large, hairy man with a tail who performs housework in exchange for a saucer of milk and a place in front of the fire. One story claims he is the giant son of a witch and the Devil.
The abbey lubber is a minor demon that haunts the wine cellars and kitchens of abbeys, tempting the monks into drunkenness, gluttony and lasciviousness.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:42:09 GMT -5
The lubber fiend, Lob, lubberkin, lurdane or Lob Lie-By-The-Fire is a legendary creature of English folklore that is similar to the "brownie" (or "Urisk") of Scotland and northern England, the "hob" of northern England and the Scottish Borders, the Slavic "domovoi" and Scandinavian "tomte". It has been related also to Robin Goodfellow, and Hobgoblins. It is best known for being mentioned by John Milton.
The lubberkin is typically described as a large, hairy man with a tail who performs housework in exchange for a saucer of milk and a place in front of the fire. One story claims he is the giant son of a witch and the Devil.
The abbey lubber is a minor demon that haunts the wine cellars and kitchens of abbeys, tempting the monks into drunkenness, gluttony and lasciviousness.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:43:48 GMT -5
kobolds
The kobold (occasionally cobold) is a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology and surviving into modern times in German folklore.
Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialize in the form of an animal, fire, a human being, and a candle. The most common depictions of kobolds show them as humanlike figures the size of small children. Kobolds who live in human homes wear the clothing of peasants; those who live in mines are hunched and ugly; kobolds who live on ships smoke pipes and wear sailor clothing.
Legends tell of three major types of kobolds. Most commonly, the creatures are house spirits of ambivalent nature; while they sometimes perform domestic chores, they play malicious tricks if insulted or neglected. Famous kobolds of this type include King Goldemar, Heinzelmann, and Hödekin. In some regions, kobolds are known by local names, such as the Galgenmännlein of southern Germany and the Heinzelmännchen of Cologne. Another type of kobold haunts underground places, such as mines. A third kind of kobold, the Klabautermann, lives aboard ships and helps sailors.
Kobold beliefs are evidence of the survival of pagan customs after the Christianisation of Germany.[dubious – discuss] Belief in kobolds dates to at least the 13th century, when German peasants carved kobold effigies for their homes. Such pagan practices may have derived from beliefs in the mischievous kobalos of ancient Greece, the household lares and penates of ancient Rome, or native German beliefs in a similar room spirit called kofewalt (whose name is a possible rootword of the modern kobold or a German dialectal variant).[1] Kobold beliefs mirror legends of similar creatures in other regions of Europe, and scholars have argued that the names of creatures such as goblins and kabouters derive from the same roots as kobold. This may indicate a common origin for these creatures, or it may represent cultural borrowings and influences of European peoples upon one another. Similarly, subterranean kobolds may share their origins with creatures such as gnomes and dwarves and the aquatic Klabautermann with similar water spirits.
The name of the element cobalt comes from the creature's name, because medieval miners blamed the sprite for the poisonous and troublesome nature of the typical arsenical ores of this metal (cobaltite and smaltite) which polluted other mined elements.
The kobold's origins are obscure. Sources equate the domestic kobold with creatures such as the English boggart, hobgoblin and pixy, the Scottish brownie, and the Scandinavian nisse or tomte;[2][3][4][5][6] while they align the subterranean variety with the Norse dwarf and the Cornish knocker.[7][8] Irish historian Thomas Keightley argued that the German kobold and the Scandinavian nis predate the Irish fairy and the Scottish brownie and influenced the beliefs in those entities, but American folklorist Richard Mercer Dorson has discounted this argument as reflecting Keightley's bias toward Gotho-Germanic ideas over Celtic ones.[9]
Kobold beliefs represent the survival of pagan customs into the Christian and modern eras and offer hints of how pagan Europeans worshipped in the privacy of their homes.[10][dubious – discuss] Religion historian Otto Schrader has suggested that kobold beliefs derive from the pagan tradition of worshipping household deities thought to reside in the hearth fire.[11] Alternatively, Nancy Arrowsmith and George Moorse have said that the earliest kobolds were thought to be tree spirits.[12] According to 13th-century German poet Conrad of Würzburg, medieval Germans carved kobolds from boxwood and wax and put them "up in the room for fun".[13] Mandrake root was another material used.[14] People believed that the wild kobold remained in the material used to carve the figure.[12] These kobold effigies were 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in) high and had colourful clothing and large mouths. One example, known as the monoloke, was made from white wax and wore a blue shirt and black velvet vest.[14] The 17th century expression to laugh like a kobold may refer to these dolls with their mouths wide open, and it may mean "to laugh loud and heartily".[13] These kobold effigies were stored in glass and wooden containers.[14] German mythologist Jacob Grimm has traced the custom to Roman times and has argued that religious authorities tolerated it even after the Germans had been Christianised.[7]
Several competing etymologies for kobold have been suggested. In 1908, Otto Schrader traced the word to kuba-walda, meaning "the one who rules the house".[11] According to this theory, the root of the word is chubisi, the Old High German word for house, building, or hut, and the word akin to the root of the English 'cove'. The suffix -old means "to rule".[15][16] Classicist Ken Dowden has identified the kofewalt, a spirit with powers over a single room, as the antecedent to the term kobold and to the creature itself.[17] He has drawn parallels between the kobold and the Roman lares and penates and the Anglo-Saxon cofgodas, "room-gods".[17] Linguist Paul Wexler has proposed yet another etymology, tracing kobold to the roots koben ("pigsty") and hold ("stall spirit").[18]
Grimm has provided one of the earlier and more commonly accepted[dubious – discuss][citation needed] etymologies for kobold,[4] tracing the word's origin through the Latin cobalus to the Greek koba'los, meaning "rogue". The change to the word-final -olt is a feature of the German language used for monsters and supernatural beings. Variants of kobold appear as early as the 13th century.[19] The words goblin and gobelin, rendered in Medieval Latin as gobelinus,[20][21] may in fact derive from the word kobold or from kofewalt.[17][22] Related terms occur in Dutch, such as kabout, kabot, and kaboutermanneken.[13] Citing this evidence, British antiquarian Charles Hardwick has argued that the house kobold and similar creatures, such as the Scottish bogie, French goblin, and English Puck, all descend from the Greek kobaloi, creatures "whose sole delite consists in perplexing the human race, and evoking those harmless terrors that constantly hover round the minds of the timid."[23] In keeping with Grimm's definition, the kobaloi were spirits invoked by rogues.[24] Similarly, British writer Archibald Maclaren has suggested that kobold beliefs descend from the ancient Roman custom of worshipping lares, household gods, and penates, gods of the house and its supplies.[25]
Another class of kobold lives in underground places. Folklorists have proposed that the mine kobold derives from the beliefs of the ancient Germanic people. Scottish historical novelist Walter Scott has suggested that the Proto-Norse based the kobolds on the short-statured Finns, Lapps, and Latvians who fled their invasions and sought shelter in northern European caves and mountains. There they put their skills at smithing to work and, in the beliefs of the proto-Norse, came to be seen as supernatural beings. These beliefs spread, becoming the kobold, the Germanic gnome,[dubious – discuss] the French goblin and the Scottish bogle.[26] In contrast, Humorists William Edmonstoune Aytoun and Theodore Martin (writing as "Bon Gaultier") have proposed that the Norse themselves were the models for the mine kobold and similar creatures, such as dwarfs, goblins, and trolls; Norse miners and smiths "were small in their physical proportions, and usually had their stithies near the mouths of the mines among the hills." This gave rise to myths about small, subterranean creatures, and the stories spread across Europe "as extensively as the military migrations from the same places did".[27]
German writer Heinrich Smidt believed that the sea kobolds, or Klabautermann, entered German folklore via German sailors who had learned about them in England. However, historians David Kirby and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen dispute this, claiming no evidence of such a belief in Britain. An alternate view connects the Klabautermann myths with the story of Saint Phocas of Sinope. As that story spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. Scholar Reinhard Buss instead sees the Klabautermann as an amalgamation of early and pre-Christian beliefs mixed with new creatures.[28]
Characteristics
Drawing of a Kobold
A kobold in the form of an infant helps with domestic chores. Kobolds are spirits and, as such, part of a spiritual realm. However, as with other European spirits, they often dwell among the living.[29][30] Although kobold is the general term, tales often give names to individuals and classes of kobolds. The name Chim is particularly common,[31] and other names found in stories include Chimmeken, King Goldemar, Heinzchen, Heinze, Himschen, Heinzelmann, Hödekin, Kurd Chimgen, Walther, and Wolterken.[32][33] Local names for kobolds include Allerünken, Alraune, Galgenmännlein (in southern Germany), Glucksmännchen, Heinzelmännchen (in Cologne), Hütchen, and Oaraunle.[14][34][35] The Heinzelmännchen are a class of kobolds from Cologne,[35] and the Klabautermann is a kobold from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of the Baltic Sea. Many of these names are modifications of common German given names, such as Heinrich (abbreviated to Heinze), Joachim, and Walther.[36]
Kobolds may manifest as animals, fire, human beings, and objects.[29] Fiery kobolds are also called drakes, draches, or puks. A tale from the Altmark, recorded by Anglo-Saxon scholar Benjamin Thorpe in 1852, describes the kobold as "a fiery stripe with a broad head, which he usually shakes from one side to the other..."[37] A legend from the same period taken from Pechüle, near Luckenwald, says that the kobold flies through the air as a blue stripe and carries grain. "If a knife or a fire-steel be cast at him, he will burst, and must let fall what which he is carrying."[38] Some legends say the fiery kobold enters and exits a house through the chimney.[39] Legends dating to 1852 from western Uckermark ascribe both human and fiery features to the kobold; he wears a red jacket and cap and moves about the air as a fiery stripe.[38] Such fire associations, along with the name drake, may point to a connection between kobold and dragon myths.[39]
Kobolds who live in human homes are generally depicted as humanlike, dressed as peasants, and standing about as tall as a four-year-old child.[40] A legend recorded by folklorist Joseph Snowe from a place called Alte Burg in 1839 tells of a creature "in the shape of a short, thick-set being, neither boy nor man, but akin to the condition of both, garbed in a party-coloured loose surcoat, and wearing a high-crowned hat with a broad brim on his diminutive head."[41] The kobold Hödekin (also known as Hüdekin and Hütchen) of Hildesheim wore a little hat down over his face (Hödekin means "little hat").[42][43] Another type of kobold known as the Hütchen is said to be 0.3–1 m (0.98–3.28 ft) tall, with red hair and beard, and clad in red or green clothing and a red hat and may even be blind.[44] Yet other tales describe kobolds appearing as herdsmen looking for work[45] and little, wrinkled old men in pointed hoods.[32] Some kobolds resemble small children. According to dramatist and novelist X. B. Saintine, kobolds are the spirits of dead children and often appear with a knife that represents the means by which they were put to death.[46] Heinzelmann, a kobold from the folklore of Hudermühlen Castle in the region of Lüneburg, appeared as a beautiful boy with blond, curly hair to his shoulders and dressed in a red silk coat.[40] His voice was "soft and tender like that of a boy or maiden."[36]
Legends variously describe mine kobolds as 0.6 metre-tall (2-ft) old men dressed like miners to short, bent creatures with ugly features,[47][48] including, in some tales, black skin.[49] In 1820, Spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten recorded a description of mine kobolds from a Madame Kalodzy, who stayed with peasants named Dorothea and Michael Engelbrecht:
We were about to sit down to tea when Mdlle. Gronin called our attention to the steady light, round, and about the size of a cheese plate, which appeared suddenly on the wall of the little garden directly opposite the door of the hut in which we sat.
Before any of us could rise to examine it, four more lights appeared almost simultaneously, about the same shape, and varying only in size. Surrounding each one was the dim outline of a small human figure, black and grotesque, more like a little image carved out of black shining wood, than anything else I can liken them to. Dorothea kissed her hands to these dreadful little shapes, and Michael bowed with great reverence. As for me and my companions, we were so awe-struck yet amused at these comical shapes, that we could not move or speak until they themselves seemed to flit about in a sort of wavering dance, and then vanish, one by one.[50]
The same informant claimed to later have seen the kobolds first-hand. She described them as "diminutive black dwarfs about two or three feet in height, and at that part which in the human being is occupied by the heart, they carry the round luminous circle first described, an appearance which is much more frequently seen than the little black men themselves."[50] The Heinzelmännchen of Cologne resemble short, naked men,[35] and the Klabautermann, a kobold from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of the Baltic Sea, typically appears as a small, pipe-smoking humanlike figure wearing a yellow nightcap-style sailor's hat and a red or grey jacket.[51][52]
Other kobolds appear as animals.[29] Folklorist D. L. Ashliman has reported kobolds appearing as wet cats and hens,[45] and Arrowsmith and Moorse mention kobolds in the shape of bats, cats, roosters, snakes, and worms.[14][44] Thorpe has recorded that the people of Altmark believed that kobolds appeared as black cats while walking the earth.[37] The kobold Heinzelmann could appear as a black marten and a large snake.[53]
The Heinzelmännchen of Cologne left the city after a woman tried to see them by tripping them with peas strewn on the stairs. Most often, kobolds remain completely invisible.[29] Although King Goldemar (or Goldmar), a famous kobold from Castle Hardenstein, had hands "thin like those of a frog, cold and soft to the feel", he never showed himself.[54] The master of Hundermühlen Castle, where Heinzelmann lived, convinced the kobold to let him touch him one night. The kobold's fingers were childlike, and his face was like a skull, without body heat.[55] One legend tells of a female servant taking a fancy to her house's kobold and asking to see him. The kobold refuses, claiming that to look upon him would be terrifying. Undeterred, the maid insists, and the kobold tells her to meet him later—and to bring along a pail of cold water. The kobold waits for the maid, nude and with a butcher knife in his back. The maid faints at the sight, and the kobold wakes her with the cold water.[56][57] In one variant, the maid sees a dead baby floating in a cask full of blood; years before, the woman had born a bastard child, killed it, and hidden it in such a cask.[58] Legends tell of those who try to trick a kobold into showing itself being punished for the misdeed. For example, Heinzelmann tricked a nobleman into thinking that the kobold was hiding in a jug. When the nobleman covered the jug's mouth to trap the creature, the kobold chided him:
If I had not heard long ago from other people that you were a fool, I might now have known it of myself, since you thought I was sitting in an empty jug, and went to cover it up with your hand, as if you had me caught. I don't think you worth the trouble, or I would have given you, long since, such a lesson, that you should remember me long enough. But before long you will get a slight ducking.[59]
When a man threw ashes and tares about to try to see King Goldemar's footprints, the kobold cut him to pieces, put him on a spit, roasted him, boiled his legs and head, and ate him.[60] The Heinzelmänchen of Cologne marched from the city and sailed away when a tailor's wife strewed peas on the stairs to trip them so she could see them. In 1850, Keightley noted that the Heinzelmänchen "[had] totally disappeared, as has been everywhere the case, owing to the curiosity of people, which has at all times been the destruction of so much of what was beautiful in the world."[61]
House spirits Main article: House spirit
Heinzelmann was a kobold who haunted Hudemühlen Castle. Domestic kobolds are linked to a specific household.[62] Some legends claim that every house has a resident kobold, regardless of its owners' desires or needs.[5] The means by which a kobold enters a new home vary from tale to tale. One tradition claims that the kobold enters the household by announcing itself at night by strewing wood chips about the house and putting dirt or cow manure in the milk cans. If the master of the house leaves the wood chips and drinks the soiled milk, the kobold takes up residence.[4][63] The kobold Heinzelmann of Hundermühlen Castle arrived in 1584 and announced himself by knocking and making other sounds.[36] Should someone take pity on a kobold in the form of a cold, wet creature and take it inside to warm it, the spirit takes up residence there.[45] A tradition from Perleberg in northern Germany says that a homeowner must follow specific instructions to lure a kobold to his house. He must go on St John's Day between noon and one o'clock, into the forest. When he finds an anthill with a bird on it, he must say a certain phrase, which causes the bird to transform into a small person. The figure then leaps into a bag carried by the homeowner, and he can then transfer the kobold to his home.[64] Even if servants come and go, the kobold stays.[62]
House kobolds usually live in the hearth area of a house,[32] although some tales place them in less frequented parts of the home, in the woodhouse,[65] in barns and stables, or in the beer cellar of an inn. At night, such kobolds do chores that the human occupants neglected to finish before bedtime:[66] They chase away pests, clean the stables, feed and groom the cattle and horses, scrub the dishes and pots, and sweep the kitchen.[67][68] Other kobolds help tradespeople and shopkeepers. A Cologne legend recorded by Keightley claims that bakers in the city in the early 19th century never needed hired help because, each night, the kobolds known as Heinzelmänchen made as much bread as a baker could need.[35] Similarly, biersal, kobolds who live in breweries and the beer cellars of inns or pubs, bring beer into the house, clean the tables, and wash the bottles, glasses and casks.[69] One such legend, first appearing late in the 19th century, concerns a house spirit named Hödfellow that resided at the Fremlin's Brewery in Maidstone, Kent, England who was wont to either assist the company's workers or hinder their efforts depending on whether he was being paid his share of the beer.[70] This association between kobolds and work gave rise to a saying current in 19th-century Germany that a woman who worked quickly "had the kobold".[71]
A kobold can bring wealth to his household in the form of grain and gold.[45] A legend from Saterland and East Friesland, recorded by Thorpe in 1852, tells of a kobold called the Alrûn. Despite standing only about a foot tall, the creature could carry a load of rye in his mouth for the people with whom he lived and did so daily as long as he received a meal of biscuits and milk. The saying to have an Alrûn in one's pocket means "to have luck at play".[72] However, kobold gifts may be stolen from the neighbours; accordingly, some legends say that gifts from a kobold are demonic or evil.[45] Nevertheless, peasants often welcome this trickery and feed their kobold in the hopes that it continue bringing its gifts.[17] A family coming into unexplained wealth was often attributed to a new kobold moving into the house.[45]
Kobolds bring good luck and help their hosts as long as the hosts take care of them. The kobold Heinzelmann found things that had been lost.[73] He had a rhyme he liked to sing: "If thou here wilt let me stay, / Good luck shalt thou have alway; / But if hence thou wilt me chase, / Luck will ne'er come near the place."[74] Three famous kobolds, King Goldemar, Heinzelmann, and Hödekin, all gave warnings about danger to the owners of the home in which they lived.[75][76] Heinzelmann once warned a colonel to be careful on his daily hunt. The man ignored the advice, only to have his gun backfire and shoot off his thumb. Heinzelman appeared to him and said, "See, now, you have got what I warned you of! If you had refrained from shooting this time, this mischance would not have befallen you."[77] The kobold Hödekin, who lived with the bishop of Hildesheim in the 12th century, once warned the bishop of a murder. When the bishop acted on the information, he was able to take over the murderer's lands and add them to his bishopric.[75]
In return, the family must leave a portion of their supper (or beer, for the biersal - see Hödfellow) to the spirit and must treat the kobold with respect, never mocking or laughing at the creature. A kobold expects to be fed in the same place at the same time each day,[67] or in the case of the Hütchen, once a week and on holidays.[34] One tradition says that their favourite food is grits or water-gruel.[78] Tales tell of kobolds with their own rooms; the kobold Heinzelmann had his own chamber at the castle, complete with furnishings.[3][79] and King Goldemar was said to sleep in the same bed with Neveling von Hardenberg. He demanded a place at the table and a stall for his horses.[54] Keightley relates that maids who leave the employ of a certain household must warn their successor to treat the house kobold well.[4]
Legends tell of slighted kobolds becoming quite malevolent and vengeful,[66][67] afflicting errant hosts with supernatural diseases, disfigurements, and injuries.[80] Their pranks range from beating the servants to murdering those who insult them.[3][79] One holyman visited the home of Heinzelmann and refused to accept the kobold's protests that he was a Christian. Heinzelmann threatened him, and the nobleman fled.[81] Another nobleman refused to drink to the kobold's honour, which prompted Heinzelmann to drag the man to the ground and choke him near to death.[82] When a kitchen servant got dirt on the kobold Hödekin and sprayed him with water each time he appeared,[83] Hödekin asked that the boy be punished, but the steward dismissed the behaviour as a childish prank. Hodeken waited for the servant to go to sleep and then strangled him, tore him limb from limb, and threw him in a pot over the fire.[75][84] The head cook rebuked the kobold for the murder, so Hodeken squeezed toad blood onto the meat being prepared for the bishop. The cook chastised the spirit for this behaviour, so Hodeken threw him over the drawbridge into the moat.[75] According to Lüthi, these abilities reflect the fear of the people who believe in them.[80] Thomas Keightley has attributed the feats of kobolds to "ventriloquism and the contrivances of servants and others."[85]
The kobold Heinzelmann appears to the fleeing master of his house as a white feather. Archibald Maclaren has attributed kobold behaviour to the virtue of the homeowners; a virtuous house has a productive and helpful kobold; a vice-filled one has a malicious and mischievous pest. If the hosts give up those things to which the kobold objects, the spirit ceases its annoying behaviour.[86] Heinzelmann punished vices; for example, when the secretary of Hudenmühlen was sleeping with the chamber maid, the kobold interrupted a sexual encounter and hit the secretary with a broom handle.[87] King Goldemar revealed the secret transgressions of clergymen, much to their chagrin.[54] Joseph Snowe has related the tale of a kobold at Alte Burg: When two students slept in the mill in which the creature lived, one of them ate the offering of food the miller had left the kobold. The student who had left the meal alone felt the kobold's touch as "gentle and soothing", but the one who had eaten its food felt that "the fingers of the hand were pointed with poisoned arrowheads, or fanged with fire."[88] Even friendly kobolds are rarely completely good,[29] and house kobolds may do mischief for no particular reason. They hide things, push people over when they bend to pick something up, and make noise at night to keep people awake.[89][90] The kobold Hödekin of Hildesheim roamed the walls of the castle at night, forcing the watch to be constantly vigilant.[75] A kobold in a fishermen's house in Köpenick on the Wendish Spree reportedly moved sleeping fishermen so that their heads and toes lined up.[91] King Goldemar enjoyed strumming the harp and playing dice.[54] One of Heinzelmann's pranks was to pinch drunken men to make them start fights with their companions.[92] Heinzelmann liked his lord's two daughters and scared away their suitors so that the women never married.[79]
Folktales tell of people trying to rid themselves of mischievous kobolds. In one tale, a man with a kobold-haunted barn puts all the straw onto a cart, burns the barn down, and sets off to start anew. As he rides away, he looks back and sees the kobold sitting behind him. "It was high time that we got out!" it says.[93] A similar tale from Köpenick tells of a man trying to move out of a kobold-infested house. He sees the kobold preparing to move too and realises that he cannot rid himself of the creature.[94] The lord of the Hundermühlen Castle disliked Heinzelmann and tried to escape him by taking up residence with his family and retinue elsewhere. Nevertheless, the invisible kobold travelled along with them as a white feather, which they discovered when they stayed at an inn.
Why do you retire from me? I can easily follow you anywhere, and be where you are. It is much better for you to return to your own estate, and not be quitting it on my account. You see well that if I wished it I could take away all you have, but I am not inclined to do so.[95]
Exorcism by a Christian priest works in some tales; the bishop of Hildesheim managed to exorcise Hödekin from the castle.[3][75] Even this method is not fool-proof, however; when an exorcist tried to drive away Heinzelmann, the kobold tore up the priest's holy book, strewed it about the room, attacked the exorcist, and chased him away.[59][79] Insulting a kobold may drive it away, but not without a curse; when someone tried to see his true form, Goldemar left the home and vowed that the house would now be as unlucky as it had been fortunate under his care.[35] Actions a Hütchen considers insulting include giving him clothing, rushing him in his work, burning the house down, and leaving a wagon wheel in front of it.[44]
Mine spirits Medieval European miners believed in underground spirits. The kobold filled this role in German folklore and is similar to other creatures of the type, such as the English bluecap, Cornish knocker and the Welsh coblynau. Stories of subterranean kobolds were common in Germany by the 16th century. Superstitious miners believed the creatures to be expert miners and metalworkers who could be heard constantly drilling, hammering, and shoveling. Some stories claim that the kobolds live in the rock, just as human beings live in the air.[48]
Legends often paint underground kobolds as evil creatures. In medieval mining towns, people prayed for protection from them.[96] They were blamed for the accidents, cave-ins, and rock slides that plagued human miners.[89] One favoured kobold prank was to fool miners into taking worthless ore. For example, 16th-century miners sometimes encountered what looked to be rich veins of copper or silver, but which, when smelted, proved to be little more than a pollutant and could even be poisonous.[97][98][99][100] These ores caused a burning sensation to those who handled them.[48] Miners tried to appease the kobolds with offerings of gold and silver and by insisting that fellow miners treat them respectfully.[15][101][102] Nevertheless, some stories claim that kobolds only returned such kindness with more poisonous ores.[15] Miners called these ores cobalt after the creatures from whom they were thought to come.[101] In 1735, Swedish chemist Georg Brandt isolated a substance from such ores and named it cobalt rex.[103] In 1780, scientists showed that this was in fact a new element, which they named cobalt.[99]
Tales from other parts of Germany make mine kobolds beneficial creatures, at least if they are treated respectfully.[102] Nineteenth-century miners in Bohemia and Hungary reported hearing knocking in the mines. They interpreted such noises as warnings from the kobolds to not go in that direction.[49] Other miners claimed that the knocks indicated where veins of metal could be found: the more knocks, the richer the vein.[104] In 1884, spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten reported a story from a Madame Kalodzy, who claimed to have heard mine kobolds while visiting a peasant named Michael Engelbrecht: "On the three first days after our arrival, we only heard a few dull knocks, sounding in and about the mouth of the mine, as if produced by some vibrations or very distant blows..."[50] Kobolds are sometimes portrayed as being indifferent to human miners, so long as they are left alone. In these depictions, they are content to simply mine ore themselves, collect it, and haul it away by windlass.[47]
Water spirits
A Klabautermann on a ship, from Buch Zur See, 1885. The Klabautermann (also spelt Klaboterman and Klabotermann) is a creature from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of Germany's north coast, the Netherlands, and the Baltic Sea, and may represent a third type of kobold[52][105] or possibly a different spirit that has merged with kobold traditions. Belief in the Klabautermann dates to at least the 1770s.[106] According to these traditions, Klabautermanns live on ships and are generally beneficial to the crew.[105] For example, a Klabautermann will pump water from the hold, arrange cargo, and hammer at holes until they can be repaired.[107] The creatures are thought to be especially useful in times of danger, preventing the ship from sinking.[105] The Klabautermann is associated with the wood of the ship on which it lives. It enters the ship via the wood used to build it, and it may appear as a ship's carpenter.[106]
The Klabautermann's benevolent behaviour lasts as long as the crew and captain treat the creature respectfully. A Klabautermann will not leave its ship until it is on the verge of sinking. To this end, superstitious sailors in the 19th century demanded that others pay the Klabautermann respect. Ellett has recorded one rumour that a crew even threw its captain overboard for denying the existence of the ship's Klabautermann.[105] Heinrich Heine has reported that one captain created a place for his ship's Klabautermann in his cabin and that the captain offered the spirit the best food and drink he had to offer.[106] Klabautermanns are easily angered.[105] Their ire manifests in pranks such as tangling ropes and laughing at sailors who shirk their chores.[107]
The sight of a Klabautermann is an ill omen, and in the 19th century, it was the most feared sight among sailors.[107] According to one tradition, they only appear to those about to die.[52] Another story recorded by Ellett claims that the Klabautermann only shows itself if the ship is doomed to sink.[107]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2020 3:44:51 GMT -5
Leprechaun
A leprechaun (Irish: leipreachán/luchorpán) is a type of fairy of the Aos Sí in Irish folklore. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. They are solitary creatures who spend their time making and mending shoes and have a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If captured by a human, they often grant three wishes in exchange for their freedom.[not verified in body] Like other Irish fairies, leprechauns may be derived from the Tuatha Dé Danann.[1] Leprechaun-like creatures rarely appear in Irish mythology and only became prominent in later folklore.
The name leprechaun is derived from the Irish word leipreachán, defined by Patrick Dinneen as "a pigmy, a sprite, or leprechaun". The further derivation is less certain; according to most sources, the word is thought to be a corruption of Middle Irish luchrupán,[2] from the Old Irish luchorpán, a compound of the roots lú ("small") and corp ("body").[3][4] The root corp, which was borrowed from the Latin corpus, attests to the early influence of Ecclesiastical Latin on the Irish language.[5] However, research published in 2019 suggests that the word derives from the Luperci and the associated Roman festival of Lupercalia.[6][7][8]
The alternative spelling leithbrágan stems from a folk etymology deriving the word from leith (half) and bróg (brogue), because of the frequent portrayal of the leprechaun as working on a single shoe.[9]
Alternative spellings in English have included lubrican, leprehaun, and lepreehawn. Some modern Irish books use the spelling lioprachán.[3] The first recorded instance of the word in the English language was in Dekker's comedy The Honest Whore, Part 2 (1604): "As for your Irish lubrican, that spirit / Whom by preposterous charms thy lust hath rais'd / In a wrong circle."[3]
Folklore
A leprechaun counts his gold in this engraving c. 1900 The earliest known reference to the leprechaun appears in the medieval tale known as the Echtra Fergus mac Léti (Adventure of Fergus son of Léti).[10] The text contains an episode in which Fergus mac Léti, King of Ulster, falls asleep on the beach and wakes to find himself being dragged into the sea by three lúchorpáin. He captures his abductors, who grant him three wishes in exchange for release.[11][12]
The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes. According to William Butler Yeats, the great wealth of these fairies comes from the "treasure-crocks, buried of old in war-time", which they have uncovered and appropriated.[13] According to David Russell McAnally the leprechaun is the son of an "evil spirit" and a "degenerate fairy" and is "not wholly good nor wholly evil".[14]
Appearance
Tourists with a novelty oversized Leprechaun in Dublin The leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found.[15] Prior to the 20th century, it was generally held that the leprechaun wore red, not green. Samuel Lover, writing in 1831, describes the leprechaun as,
... quite a beau in his dress, notwithstanding, for he wears a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, and inexpressible of the same, cocked hat, shoes and buckles.[16]
According to Yeats, the solitary fairies, like the leprechaun, wear red jackets, whereas the "trooping fairies" wear green. The leprechaun's jacket has seven rows of buttons with seven buttons to each row. On the western coast, he writes, the red jacket is covered by a frieze one, and in Ulster the creature wears a cocked hat, and when he is up to anything unusually mischievous, he leaps on to a wall and spins, balancing himself on the point of the hat with his heels in the air."[17]
According to McAnally
He is about three feet high, and is dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout, with red breeches buckled at the knee, gray or black stockings, and a hat, cocked in the style of a century ago, over a little, old, withered face. Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff, and frills of lace are at his wrists. On the wild west coast, where the Atlantic winds bring almost constant rains, he dispenses with ruff and frills and wears a frieze overcoat over his pretty red suit, so that, unless on the lookout for the cocked hat, ye might pass a Leprechawn on the road and never know it's himself that's in it at all.
This dress could vary by region, however. In McAnally's account there were differences between leprechauns or Logherymans from different regions:[18]
The Northern Leprechaun or Logheryman wore a "military red coat and white breeches, with a broad-brimmed, high, pointed hat, on which he would sometimes stand upside down". The Lurigadawne of Tipperary wore an "antique slashed jacket of red, with peaks all round and a jockey cap, also sporting a sword, which he uses as a magic wand". The Luricawne of Kerry was a "fat, pursy little fellow whose jolly round face rivals in redness the cut-a-way jacket he wears, that always has seven rows of seven buttons in each row". The Cluricawne of Monaghan wore "a swallow-tailed evening coat of red with green vest, white breeches, black stockings," shiny shoes, and a "long cone hat without a brim," sometimes used as a weapon. In a poem entitled The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker, 18th century Irish poet William Allingham describes the appearance of the leprechaun as:
...A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded Elf,
Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose, Silver buckles to his hose,
Leather apron — shoe in his lap...[19]
The modern image of the leprechaun sitting on a toadstool, having a red beard and green hat, etc. is clearly more modern invention or borrowed from other strands of European folklore.[20]
A life-size balloon leprechaun at Boston's St Patrick's Day Parade in 2018. Related creatures The leprechaun is related to the clurichaun and the far darrig in that he is a solitary creature. Some writers even go as far as to substitute these second two less well-known spirits for the leprechaun in stories or tales to reach a wider audience. The clurichaun is considered by some to be merely a leprechaun on a drinking spree.[21]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 12:50:22 GMT -5
kors
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 12:53:03 GMT -5
mares
A mare (Old English: mære, Old Dutch: mare, Proto-Slavic *mara; mara in Old High German, Old Norse, and Swedish) is a malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares.[1]
Beliefs
The mare was believed to ride horses, which left them exhausted and covered in sweat by the morning. She could also entangle the hair of the sleeping man or beast, resulting in "marelocks", called marflätor ("mare-braids") or martovor ("mare-tangles") in Swedish or marefletter and marefloker in Norwegian. The belief probably originated as an explanation to the Polish plait phenomenon, a hair disease.
Even trees were thought to be ridden by the mare, resulting in branches being entangled. The undersized, twisted pine-trees growing on coastal rocks and on wet grounds are known in Sweden as martallar ("mare-pines") or in German as Alptraum-Kiefer ("nightmare pine").
According to Paul Devereux, mares included witches who took on the form of animals when their spirits went out and about while they were in trance (see the Icelandic example of Geirrid, below). These included animals such as frogs, cats, horses, hares, dogs, oxen, birds and often bees and wasps.[8]
Scandinavia
The mare is attested as early as in the Norse Ynglinga saga from the 13th century.[11] Here, King Vanlandi Sveigðisson of Uppsala lost his life to a nightmare (mara) conjured by the Finnish sorceress Huld or Hulda, hired by the king's abandoned wife Drífa. The king had broken his promise to return within three years, and after ten years had elapsed the wife engaged the sorceress to either lure the king back to her, or failing that, to assassinate him. Vanlandi had scarcely gone to sleep when he complained that the nightmare "rode him"; when the men held the king's head it "trod on his legs" on the point of breaking, and when the retinue then "seized his feet" the creature fatally "pressed down on his head".[12] In Sámi mythology, there is an evil elf called Deattán, who transform into bird or other animal and sits on the brests of sleeping people, giving nightmares.[13]
According to the Vatnsdæla saga, Thorkel Silver (Þorkell Silfri) has a dream about riding a red horse that barely touched ground, which he interpreted as a positive omen, but his wife disagreed, explaining that a mare signified a man's fetch (fylgja), and that the red color boded bloodiness. This association of the nightmare with fetch is thought to be of late origin, an interpolation in the text dating to circa 1300, with the text exhibiting a "confounding of the words marr and mara."[14]
Another possible example is the account in the Eyrbyggja saga of the sorceress Geirrid accused of assuming the shape of a "night-rider" or "ride-by-night" (marlíðendr or kveldriða) and causing serious trampling bruises on Gunnlaug Thorbjornsson. The marlíðendr mentioned here has been equated to the mara by commentators.[15][16][17]
As in English, the name appears in the word for "nightmare" in the Nordic languages (e.g. the Swedish word "mardröm" literally meaning mara-dream, the Norwegian word "mareritt" and the Danish "mareridt", both meaning mare-ride or the Icelandic word "martröð" meaning mara-dreaming repeatedly).
Poland
Mare from Polish folklore - graphics by Kasia Walentynowicz
Etymologically, Polish zmora/mara is connected to Mara/Marzanna, a demon/goddess of winter.[23][page needed] It could be a soul of a person (alive or dead) such as a sinful woman, someone wronged or someone who died without confession. Other signs of someone being a mare could be: being the seventh daughter, having one's name pronounced in a wrong way while being baptised, having multicoloured eyes or a unibrow (exclusive to Kalisz region, Poland). If a woman was promised to marry a man, but then he married another, the rejected one could also become a mare during the nights. A very common belief was that one would become a mare if they mispronounced a prayer - e.g. Zmoraś Mario instead of Zdrowaś Mario (an inverted version of Hail Mary[23]). The mare can turn into animals and objects, such as cats, frogs, yarn, straw or apples.[24] People believed that the mare drained people - as well as cattle and horses - of energy and/or blood at night.
Protection practices included:
drinking coffee before sleeping,
taking the mare's hat,
throwing a piece of a noose at the demon,
sleeping with a leather, wedding belt or a scythe,
inviting the mare for breakfast,[25]
changing one's sleeping position,
smearing feces on the front door,
leaving a bundle of hay in one's bed and going to sleep in another room.
To protect livestock, some people hung mirrors over the manger (to scare the mare with its own face) or affixed dead birds of prey to the stable doors. Sometimes the horses were given red ribbons, or covered in a stinking substance.
A Czech můra denotes a kind of elf or spirit as well as a "sphinx moth" or "night butterfly".[26] Other Slavic languages with cognates that have the double meaning of moth are: Kashubian mòra,[27] and Slovak mora.[28]
In the northwest and south Russian traditions, the mara is a female character, similar to kikimora. Usually invisible, it can take the form of a black woman with long shaggy hair, which she combs, sitting on a yarn.[clarification needed]
In Croatian, mora refers to a "nightmare". Mora or Mara is one of the spirits from ancient Slav mythology, a dark one who becomes a beautiful woman to visit men in their dreams, torturing them with desire before killing them. In Serbia, a mare is called mora, or noćnik/noćnica ("night creature", masculine and feminine respectively).[29] In Romania they were known as Moroi.
Some believe that a mora enters the room through the keyhole, sits on the chest of the sleeper and tries to strangle them (hence moriti, "to torture", "to bother", "to strangle", "umoriti", "to tire", "to kill", "umor", "tiredness" and "umoran", "tired"). To repel moras, children are advised to look at the window or to turn the pillow and make the sign of the cross on it (prekrstiti jastuk); in the early 19th century, Vuk Karadžić mentions that people would repel moras by leaving a broom upside down behind their doors, or putting their belt on top of their sheets, or saying an elaborate prayer poem before they go to sleep.[30]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:21:12 GMT -5
korreds
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:23:00 GMT -5
puckles (see pucks)
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:24:30 GMT -5
Korrigan
In Breton folklore, a Korrigan ([kɔˈriːɡɑ̃n]) is a fairy or dwarf-like spirit. The word korrigan means "small-dwarf" (korr means dwarf, ig is a diminutive and the suffix an is a hypocoristic). It is closely related to the Cornish word korrik which means gnome. The name changes according to the place. Among the other names, there are korrig, korred, korrs, kores, couril, crion, goric,[1] kornandon, ozigan, nozigan, teuz, torrigan, viltañs, poulpikan, poulpiquet, and paotred ar sabad.[citation needed]
As fairies and dwarves
The term is used variously by writers on Breton folklore. Théodore de Villemarqué in Barzaz Breiz uses the term interchangeably with "fairy" and distinguishes them from dwarves ("nains"). In contrast Walter Evans-Wentz in The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries argued that in the mythology of Morbihan there is no clear distinction between korrigans and nains: "Very often corrigans regarded as nains, equally with all kinds of lutins, are believed to be evil spirits or demons condemned to live here on earth in a penitential state for an indefinite time."[2] They like to dance around fountains. However, they give themselves away when they cannot enumerate the full list of the days of the week (because of the sacredness of the full week).
As siren water-sprites
Other authors use the term only to refer to siren-like female fairies who inhabit springs and rivers, "lovely lustful golden-haired women who tried to lure men into their beds – and into a watery death".[3] These creatures are very beautiful when seen at dusk or night, but by day their eyes are red, their hair white, and their skin wrinkled; thus they try to avoid being seen by day.[4]
Korrigans have beautiful hair and red flashing eyes. They are sometimes described as important princesses or druidesses who were opposed to Christianity when the Apostles came to convert Brittany. They hate priests, churches, and especially the Virgin Mary.[3] They can predict the future, change shape, and move at lightning speed. Like sirens and mermaids, they sing and comb their long hair, and they haunt fountains and water wells. They have the power of making men fall in love with them, but they then kill the ones who do. In many popular tales, they are eager to deceive the imprudent mortals who see them dancing or looking after a treasure, and fond of stealing human children, substituting them with changelings. On the night of 31 October (Samhain), they are said to be lurking near dolmens, waiting for victims.
According to the Breton poem, "Ar rannoù", there are 9 korrigans, "who dance, with flowers in their hair, and robes of white wool, around the fountain, by the light of the full moon."[5]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:25:52 GMT -5
Silvanus
Silvanus (/sɪlˈveɪnəs/;[1] meaning "of the woods" in Latin) was a Roman tutelary deity of woods and uncultivated lands. As protector of the forest (sylvestris deus), he especially presided over plantations and delighted in trees growing wild.[2][3][4][5] He is also described as a god watching over the fields and husbandmen, protecting in particular the boundaries of fields.[6] The similarly named Etruscan deity Selvans may be a borrowing of Silvanus,[7] or not even related in origin.[8]
Silvanus is described as the divinity protecting the flocks of cattle, warding off wolves, and promoting their fertility.[2][9][10][11] Dolabella, a rural engineer of whom only a few pages are known, states that Silvanus was the first to set up stones to mark the limits of fields, and that every estate had three Silvani:[12]
a Silvanus domesticus (in inscriptions called Silvanus Larum and Silvanus sanctus sacer Larum)
a Silvanus agrestis (also called salutaris, literally "of the fields" or "saviour"), who was worshipped by shepherds, and
a Silvanus orientalis, literally "of the east", that is, the god presiding over the point at which an estate begins.
Hence Silvani were often referred to in the plural.
Attributes and associations
Like other gods of woods and flocks, Silvanus is described as fond of music; the syrinx was sacred to him,[2] and he is mentioned along with the Pans and Nymphs.[3][14] Later speculators even identified Silvanus with Pan, Faunus, Inuus and Aegipan.[15] He must have been associated with the Italian Mars, for Cato refers to him consistently as Mars Silvanus.[10] These references to Silvanus as an aspect of Mars combined with his association with forests and glades, give context to the worship of Silvanus as the giver of the art (techne) of forest warfare. In particular the initiation rituals of the evocati appear to have referenced Silvanus as a protective god of raiding for women and cattle, perhaps preserving elements of earlier Etruscan worship. [16]
In the provinces outside of Italy, Silvanus was identified with numerous native gods:[17]
Sucellos, Poeninus, Sinquas and Tettus in Gaul and Germany.
Callirius, Cocidius and Vinotonus in Britain. A Romano-Celtic Temple containing several plaques dedicated to Silvanus Callirius has been found at Camulodunum (modern Colchester).[18]
Calaedicus in Spain.
The Mogiae in Pannonia.
Selvans in Etruria (though the validity of this identification has been contested).[8]
Silenus, a Greek God, merged with Silvanus in Latin Literature.[19]
Pan (god of forests, pastures, and shepherds), in Greco-Roman mythology.[19]
Aristaeus, a god/patron of shepherds, harvest and other rural arts.
The Slavic god Porewit has similarities with Silvanus.[20]
Xavier Delamarre suggests the epithet Callirius may be related to Breton theonym Riocalat(is) (attested in Cumberland Quarries), and both mean "(God) With Wild Horses".[21]
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:28:13 GMT -5
Succubus
A succubus is a demon or supernatural entity in folklore, in female form, that appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. According to religious traditions, repeated sexual activity with a succubus can cause poor physical or mental health, even death. In modern representations, a succubus is often depicted as a beautiful seductress or enchantress, rather than as demonic or frightening. The male counterpart to the succubus is the incubus.
In folklore
As depicted in the Jewish mystical work Zohar and the medieval rabbinical text Alphabet of Ben Sira, Lilith was Adam's first wife, who later became a succubus.[3][unreliable source] She left Adam and refused to return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with the archangel Samael.[4] In Zoharistic Kabbalah, there were four succubi who mated with the archangel Samael. There were four original queens of the demons: Lilith, Eisheth, Agrat bat Mahlat, and Naamah.[5] A succubus may take a form of a beautiful young girl but closer inspection may reveal deformities of her body, such as bird-like claws or serpentine tails.[6] Folklore also describes the act of sexually penetrating a succubus as akin to entering a cavern of ice, and there are reports of succubi forcing men to perform cunnilingus on their vulvas, which drip with urine and other fluids.[7] In later folklore, a succubus took the form of a siren.
Throughout history, priests and rabbis, including Hanina Ben Dosa and Abaye, tried to curb the power of succubi over humans.[8] However, not all succubi were malevolent. According to Walter Map in the satire De Nugis Curialium (Trifles of Courtiers), Pope Sylvester II (999–1003) was allegedly involved with a succubus named Meridiana, who helped him achieve his high rank in the Catholic Church. Before his death, he confessed of his sins and died repentant.[9]
In non-Western literature
Buddhist canon
A Buddhist scripture regarding prayer to Avalokiteśvara, the Dharani Sutra of Amoghapāśa, promises to those who pray that "you will not be attacked by demons who either suck your energy or make love to you in your dreams."[14]
Arabian culture
In Arabian mythology, the qarînah (قرينة) is a spirit similar to the succubus, with origins possibly in ancient Egyptian religion or in the animistic beliefs of pre-Islamic Arabia.[15] A qarînah "sleeps with the person and has relations during sleep as is known by the dreams".[16] They are said to be invisible, but a person with "second sight" can see them, often in the form of a cat, dog, or other household pet.[15] "In Omdurman it is a spirit which possesses. ... Only certain people are possessed and such people cannot marry or the qarina will harm them."[17] To date, many African myths claim[citation needed] that men who have similar experience with such principality (succubus) in dreams (usually in form of a beautiful woman) find themselves exhausted as soon as they awaken; often claiming spiritual attack upon them. Local rituals/divination are often invoked in order to appeal the god for divine protection and intervention.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:29:29 GMT -5
blackmen (term found in the Denham Tracts - not believed to be used in the obvious modern context, but no other info found)
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:31:04 GMT -5
Shadow
Cultural aspects An unattended shade was thought by some cultures to be similar to that of a ghost. The name for the fear of shadows is "sciophobia" or "sciaphobia".
Chhaya is the Hindu goddess of shadows.
In heraldry, when a charge is supposedly shown "in the shadow" (the appearance is of the charge merely being outlined in a neutral tint rather than being of one or more tinctures different from the field on which it is placed), it is technically described as "umbrated". Supposedly, only a limited number of specific charges can be so depicted.[citation needed]
Shadows are often linked with darkness and evil; in common folklore and modern graphic novels, like shadows who come to life, are often evil beings trying to control the people they reflect. The film Upside-Down Magic features an antagonistic shadow spirit who possesses people.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:32:41 GMT -5
Banshee
A banshee (/ˈbænʃiː/ BAN-shee; Modern Irish bean sí, from Old Irish: ben síde, pronounced [bʲen ˈʃiːðʲe], "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member,[1] usually by wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is connected to the mythologically important tumuli or "mounds" that dot the Irish countryside, which are known as síde (singular síd) in Old Irish.[2]
Description Sometimes she has long streaming hair and wears a gray cloak over a green dress, and her eyes are red from continual weeping.[3] She may be dressed in white with red hair and a ghastly complexion, according to a firsthand account by Ann, Lady Fanshawe in her Memoirs.[4] Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland provides another:
The size of the banshee is another physical feature that differs between regional accounts. Though some accounts of her standing unnaturally tall are recorded, the majority of tales that describe her height state the banshee's stature as short, anywhere between one foot and four feet. Her exceptional shortness often goes alongside the description of her as an old woman, though it may also be intended to emphasize her state as a fairy creature.[5]
In O'Brien's Irish- English Dictionary the entry for Síth-Bhróg states:
"hence bean-síghe, plural mná-síghe, she-fairies or women-fairies, credulously supposed by the common people to be so affected to certain families that they are hears to sing mournful lamentations about their houses by night, whenever any of the family labours under a sickness which is to end by death, but no families which are not of an ancient & noble Stock, are believed to be honoured with this fairy privilege".[6]
Sometimes the banshee assumes the form of some sweet singing virgin of the family who died young, and has been given the mission by the invisible powers to become the harbinger of coming doom to her mortal kindred. Or she may be seen at night as a shrouded woman, crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face, or flying past in the moonlight, crying bitterly. The cry of this spirit is mournful beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night.[7]
Keening In Ireland and parts of Scotland, a traditional part of mourning is the keening woman (bean chaointe), who wails a lament—in Irish: Caoineadh, Irish pronunciation: ['kɰiːnʲi] (Munster dialect), [ˈkɰiːnʲə] (Connaught dialect) or [ˈkiːnʲuː] (Ulster dialect), caoin meaning "to weep, to wail". This keening woman may in some cases be a professional, and the best keeners would be in high demand.
Irish legend speaks of a lament being sung by a fairy woman, or banshee. She would sing it when a family member died or was about to die, even if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet come. In those cases, her wailing would be the first warning the household had of the death.[8][9]
The banshee also is a predictor of death. If someone is about to enter a situation where it is unlikely they will come out alive she will warn people by screaming or wailing, giving rise to a banshee also being known as a wailing woman.
It is often stated that the banshee laments only the descendants of the pure Milesian stock of Ireland,[10] sometimes clarified as surnames prefixed with O' and Mac,[11] and some accounts even state that each family has its own banshee. One account, however, also included the Geraldines, as they had apparently become "more Irish than the Irish themselves," countering the lore ascribing banshees exclusively to those of Milesian stock.[12] Another exception was the Rossmore banshee which supposedly heralded the death of a member of the family of Baron Rossmore, whose ancestry was predominantly Scottish and Dutch.
When several banshees appear at once, it indicates the death of someone great or holy.[13] The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a mother who died in childbirth.[3]
Origin Most, though not all, surnames associated with banshees have the Ó or Mc/Mac prefix - that is, surnames of Goidelic origin, indicating a family native to the Insular Celtic lands rather than those of the Norse, English, or Norman. Accounts reach as far back as 1380 to the publication of the Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh (Triumphs of Torlough) by Sean mac Craith.[14] Mentions of banshees can also be found in Norman literature of that time.[14]
The Ua Briain banshee is thought to be named Aibell and the ruler of 25 other banshees who would always be at her attendance.[14] It is possible that this particular story is the source of the idea that the wailing of numerous banshees signifies the death of a great person.[14]
In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. In Scottish folklore, a similar creature is known as the bean nighe or ban nigheachain (little washerwoman) or nigheag na h-àth (little washer at the ford) and is seen washing the bloodstained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. In Welsh folklore, a similar creature is known as the cyhyraeth.[15]
See also Baobhan Sith Cailleach Caoineag Clíodhna La Llorona Madam Koi Koi Psychopomp Siren White Lady (ghost)
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:34:00 GMT -5
Leanan sídhe
The leannán sídhe ("Fairy-Lover";[1] Scottish Gaelic: leannan sìth, Manx: lhiannan shee; [lʲan̴̪-an ˈʃiː]) is a figure from Irish Folklore.[2] She is depicted as a beautiful woman of the Aos Sí ("people of the barrows") who takes a human lover. Lovers of the leannán sídhe are said to live brief, though highly inspired, lives. The name comes from the Gaelic words for a sweetheart, lover, or concubine and the term for inhabitants of fairy mounds (fairy).[3] While the leannán sídhe is most often depicted as a female fairy, there is at least one reference to a male leannán sídhe troubling a mortal woman.[4]
A version of the myth was popularized during the Celtic Revival in the late 19th-century. The leannán sídhe is mentioned by Jane Wilde, writing as "Speranza", in her 1887 Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland. [5] W. B. Yeats popularized his own 'newly-ancient' version of the leannán sídhe, emphasizing the spirit's almost vampiric tendencies.[6] As he imagined it, the leannán sídhe is depicted as a beautiful muse who offers inspiration to an artist in exchange for their love and devotion; although the supernatural affair leads to madness and eventual death for the artist:[7]
The Leanhaun Shee (fairy mistress) seeks the love of mortals. If they refuse, she must be their slave; if they consent, they are hers, and can only escape by finding another to take their place. The fairy lives on their life, and they waste away. Death is no escape from her. She is the Gaelic muse, for she gives inspiration to those she persecutes. The Gaelic poets die young, for she is restless, and will not let them remain long on earth—this malignant phantom.
The leannán sídhe ("Fairy-Lover";[1] Scottish Gaelic: leannan sìth, Manx: lhiannan shee; [lʲan̴̪-an ˈʃiː]) is a figure from Irish Folklore.[2] She is depicted as a beautiful woman of the Aos Sí ("people of the barrows") who takes a human lover. Lovers of the leannán sídhe are said to live brief, though highly inspired, lives. The name comes from the Gaelic words for a sweetheart, lover, or concubine and the term for inhabitants of fairy mounds (fairy).[3] While the leannán sídhe is most often depicted as a female fairy, there is at least one reference to a male leannán sídhe troubling a mortal woman.[4]
A version of the myth was popularized during the Celtic Revival in the late 19th-century. The leannán sídhe is mentioned by Jane Wilde, writing as "Speranza", in her 1887 Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland. [5] W. B. Yeats popularized his own 'newly-ancient' version of the leannán sídhe, emphasizing the spirit's almost vampiric tendencies.[6] As he imagined it, the leannán sídhe is depicted as a beautiful muse who offers inspiration to an artist in exchange for their love and devotion; although the supernatural affair leads to madness and eventual death for the artist:[7]
The Leanhaun Shee (fairy mistress) seeks the love of mortals. If they refuse, she must be their slave; if they consent, they are hers, and can only escape by finding another to take their place. The fairy lives on their life, and they waste away. Death is no escape from her. She is the Gaelic muse, for she gives inspiration to those she persecutes. The Gaelic poets die young, for she is restless, and will not let them remain long on earth—this malignant phantom.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:35:36 GMT -5
clabbernappers
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:37:22 GMT -5
Gabriel-hounds (See Hell Hounds)
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:40:40 GMT -5
mawkins
1. (Animals) a variant of malkin 2. dialect a. a slovenly woman b. a scarecrow
1. (Animals) an archaic or dialect name for a cat Compare grimalkin 2. a variant of mawkin
grimalkin (ɡrɪˈmælkɪn; -ˈmɔːl-) n 1. (Zoology) an old cat, esp an old female cat 2. a crotchety or shrewish old woman
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:41:17 GMT -5
doubles (see Doppelgänger)
|
|