The goblin sits on a tree stump, reading the problem with enthusiasm. Leshy: master of Russian forests Attitude towards people

Goblin

This is the main owner of the forest, he makes sure that no one harms anyone on his farm. He treats good people well, helps them get out of the forest, but he treats not-so-good people badly: he confuses them, makes them walk in circles. He sings in a voice without words, claps his hands, whistles, hoots, laughs, cries.

The goblin can appear in various plant, animal, human and mixed images, and can be invisible. Most often it appears as a solitary creature. For the winter it leaves the forest, falling underground. As the owner, he takes care of the forest, protects it, and is the patron of forest animals. Many forest sounds, especially those caused by the wind, are attributed to the goblin.

The attitude of the people towards the goblin was ambivalent: he is both an evil spirit and a just spirit. Leshys do not so much purposefully harm people as play pranks and jokes, but they do it rudely and evilly: they scare people with laughter and clapping their hands, lead them astray, hide objects, etc. A goblin can punish a person for inappropriate behavior. Success in hunting and successful grazing of livestock depend on the goblin; for this, hunters and shepherds needed to enter into an agreement with him. The goblin can kidnap livestock and people. He is able to predict the future. Sometimes the goblin accepted help from a person.

Name

The most frequently used word in Russian in relation to this character is goblin meant forest, wooded (for example, “goblin land”). Hence the other names for goblin, common in different regions - leshak, forester, forester, woodsman / fox (polysun), forest and even forest, and in polite addresses to him - righteous forest, forest honest, forest grandfather, forest uncle, Forest inhabitant, forest owner. Female goblin are called leshachihi, goblin, forests / foxes, forests, foresters. Children of goblin - lesheviki, little leprechauns. :656, 662 :250 :320, 324 :314, 316

In other Slavic languages, this character is known as goblin (Belarusian leshi, Polish. leszy, Serbohorvian leshiј / lešij, leši, Czech. leši), forester (Belarusian lesavik, Serbo-Croatian lesovik / lesovik, Ukrainian lesovik), forester (Bulgarian forester, Polish. leśnik, Serbohorvian forester / lesnik), forest (Serbo-Croatian lesovј / lesovoj, Czech lesovij), forester (Belarusian lyasun), leshak (Serbo-Croatian lesak / lešak), forest grandfather (Belarusian lyasny dzed, Polish. leśny dziad), forest man (Slovak. lesný mužík, Czech. lesní mužík), borovoy (Polish. borowy), gay (Polish. gajowy) and etc..

About the origin of goblin

Ideas about the origin of goblin are blurred. It is widely believed that cursed people, those who died unbaptized, or children who were exchanged by evil spirits become goblin. In popular Christianity, goblins were viewed as forest devils - creations of the devil, or as Adam's children not presented to God. :320, 324 :307-309, 314

The Vologda version of the legend talks about the goblin as the spawn of the devil:

There was only God and the devil on earth. God created man, and the devil tried to create, but he created not a man, but a devil, and no matter how hard he tried and worked, he still could not create a man, all of his devils came out. God saw that the devil had already created several devils, became angry with him and ordered Archangel Gabriel to overthrow Satan and all evil spirits from heaven. Gabriel overthrew. Whoever fell into the forest became a goblin, whoever fell into the water became a merman, whoever fell into a house became a brownie. That's why they have different names. And they are all the same demons.

Dilaktorsky P. From the traditions and legends of the Kadnikovsky district of the Vologda province // Ethnographic Review. M., 1899. No. 3

The Belarusian variant produces goblin from the "twelve pairs of children" of Adam and Eve. When God came to see the children, the parents showed him six pairs, and six others were “shown under an oak tree.” From the six pairs presented to God came people, and from the others - evil spirits, which are not inferior to them in number.

The goblin is dressed like an ordinary person. He often appears in the form of a forester or a soldier. Usually he wears a Siberian jacket, an army jacket, a gray homespun woolen caftan, leather or fur clothes. But the most typical thing for a goblin is white clothing like a robe or cassock, with wide sleeves and also a wide and white hat. According to some versions, he is always belted, and according to others, he is always without a belt. His typical shoes are bast shoes, sometimes huge ones; often he is caught weaving them or picking at them while sitting on a stump in the light of the moon. Sometimes he wears clothes that are not typical for the forest, for example, in a black suit. The left hem of his clothes is tucked over the right - like women's, while the right hem can be “tucked in”, the shoes are mixed up - they are put on the wrong feet. In later tales, the goblin is dressed in modern clothes: a cap, boots or shoes, etc. The goblin usually holds a whip, batog, club or purse in his hands. The devil is often seen naked. :656 :260-263 :321-322 :315-316

The leshachiha also appears in various guises. She may look like an ordinary woman, but with ragged clothes and loose hair with green branches woven into it. Or like a tall, decrepit old woman, leaning on a stick and rocking as if in a doze. : 662-663 : 282 : 324-325 : 326 Afanasyev in his work “Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature” also provides information about leschas: “The popular imagination endows them with such huge and long breasts that they are forced to throw them over their shoulders and only then can walk and run freely." And the imp sitting on its back, which sucks the breast, is hidden and warmed by the long hair of the female leprechaun. These women are overgrown, shaggy, and have matted hair.

The goblin has enormous power. :656 :258-259 He can be very heavy, so much so that the horse is not able to pull the cart on which he sits; his hand is also heavy. :258-259 :324 A goblin can be invisible to people, it can suddenly or gradually disappear. :262-264 A strong wind accompanies the goblin in front and behind, in the direction of which one can determine where he is heading. This wind covers up the traces of the goblin, therefore, according to one version, no one saw them (but in other stories the goblin leaves traces). :655, 661 :301 :323-324

Lifestyle

Some goblins live alone, others live in families, and they build spacious houses in the forests where their wives manage and their children grow up. The home of the goblin is a log hut in a dense spruce forest far from human settlements. In some places, it is believed that goblin live in entire villages. Sometimes in large forests there live two or three goblins, who sometimes quarrel among themselves when dividing up forest dachas (Arkhangelsk province). Quarrels lead to fights, goblin beat each other with hundred-year-old trees, which they uproot, and hundred-year-old stones, knocked off the rocks. They throw stones and tree trunks 50 miles or more. Battles between goblin and merman are also frequent, mainly at night.

Leshy can be found throughout the forest. But they live in forest slums, in the heart of the forest. From places visited by humans, the home of the goblin is protected by impenetrable forest and dead wood, and swamps that do not freeze even in winter. Together with the “owner” his animals and birds live. Forest animals come there before they die. The goblin can also live on old dry trees (spruce, willow), in a hollow, in a hummock, in the roots of an upturned tree, in snags, in forest huts, occasionally in a secret cave and even underground. Near the lair of a devil, a person will certainly get lost. More often, the goblin appears to be a solitary creature, in each forest there is only one goblin (large forests can be divided into areas, each of which has its own goblin). But in a number of mythological stories, goblin can gather together, live in families and even villages similar to those of humans: the houses of goblin are covered with leather, they are guarded by dogs, and the farm contains livestock; there are stories that goblin have governors and kings (in Russian conspiracies the head of the goblin was called Musail-les, and in the Russian North - Honest Forest). :653, 658, 662 :265-266 :324 :316

As an owner, the goblin takes care of the forest and protects it. The goblin is the shepherd of all forest inhabitants, and therefore he is depicted as an old man with a whip in his hands. He herds animals, takes care of their food, protects them from hunters, and saves them from fires. The goblin disposes of the animals under his control as his property, for example, he can lose them at cards to another goblin - this served as a mystical explanation for the mass migrations of animals: squirrels, hares, etc. But the goblin is often presented as the patron of only one or several species of wild animals, in in the Russian tradition, these are most often bears and especially wolves (in the latter case, the goblin can be embodied as a white wolf - the leader). :658-659 :255-256, 268, 270-273 :325 :316-317

All the phenomena caused by gusts of wind in the forest are attributed to the goblin: howling, cracking of trees, rustling of leaves - this is the goblin whistling, clapping his hands, laughing, singing, making animal sounds. The goblin often repeats the words spoken by a person - like an echo, which in the forest is considered the response of the goblin. The goblin loves to hang and swing on tree branches, which is why in some places they call him a ravine worker(shaky - cradle, cradle). He often sits on a tree or stump and weaves bast shoes or makes crafts from wood. In some regions, falling trees and hurricane winds tearing off roofs were associated with weddings of goblin. Goblin can be at enmity with each other (it is said about goblin battles with each other, using trees and boulders as weapons), with devils, water creatures, field creatures and brownies. :654-655, 657-660, 665 :254, 264 :323-326 :314, 316, 322 :47, 49

The goblin, at will, drives squirrels, arctic foxes, hares, and field mice from one forest to another. According to Ukrainian belief, the polysun, or forest man, drives hungry wolves with a whip to where they can find food. According to folk stories, goblins love a card game where the bets are squirrels and hares. So the mass migrations of these animals, for which it is difficult to find a reasonable explanation, turn out to actually be the payment of a gambling debt. According to “Northern Tales” by N. E. Onchukov, the forest man’s food is “hare and squirrel beef.” Also, wild apple trees are called “leshovka,” suggesting that the wood goblin grows these apple trees for himself. The horse senses the devil earlier than the rider or driver and may suddenly stop or rush to the side in fear. The goblin is at enmity with dogs tamed by humans, although sometimes he has his own dogs, small and colorful.

Leshim also really like to sing, sometimes for a long time and at the top of their lungs (like a storm), accompanying themselves by clapping their hands.

The goblin’s favorite saying is: “I walked, I found, I lost.” Confusing people and confusing them is a common trick of the spirit. If the “goblin bypasses” a person, then the traveler will suddenly lose his way and may “get lost in three pines.” Ways to dispel the devil's confusion: the person led by him should not eat anything or carry with him a linden branch (lutovka) peeled from the bark; you can also put on all your clothes inside out or change your shoes - put your left shoe on your right foot and vice versa, turn the insoles over - then the traveler can find the way from the forest. In addition, this spirit loves to scream in a scary voice and whistle, thereby scaring people. The “Novgorod Collection” for 1865 reports that “the forest people... love to sing songs, clap their hands, laugh and groan.” According to information from the Arkhangelsk province, the goblin “screams in different voices: in a child’s voice, in a woman’s voice, in a man’s voice, neighs in a horse’s voice.” He also “crows like a rooster, crows like a chicken, a cat, a small child.” But according to popular belief, only the goblin whistles in the forest, and it is dangerous for a person to whistle, since the goblin will be offended. When the Mansi sing about menkws (goblins), they make strong body movements, whistling, stomping, “as forest deities usually do.” There is an opinion that the Russian “pandemonium,” which the Orthodox Church opposed in ancient times, originates from the imitation of forest Slavic deities in pagan times.

Leshy and man

A figurine of a goblin from the Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Zaslavye" in Belarus

The life of a peasant was closely connected with the forest and depended on it. The entire cycle of agricultural work was carried out in the forest (while maintaining slash-and-burn agriculture), cattle were grazed in the forest, wood was harvested for construction and heating, hunting and fishing, collecting mushrooms and berries; forestry trades included racing tar, resin, burning charcoal , roads passed through the forest, and finally, various pagan rituals were performed in the forest. But although the forest was actively used by man, adjacent to the space he had developed, it nevertheless remained beyond his control. It was perceived as an alien and dangerous territory, a place of accumulation of evil spirits, a different world. :247-250 :320 :314 :47

Hence the attitude towards the goblin as a forest owner was ambivalent among the people. On the one hand, he was considered a dangerous evil force hostile to man. On the other hand, he was often contrasted with “real” devils: his negative actions are caused not by the goal in itself to destroy a person, but by the desire to punish (even death) for inappropriate behavior in the forest (and sometimes the rules of human society). According to popular beliefs, goblins do not so much purposefully harm people as play pranks and jokes, but they do it rudely and evilly: they scare people with laughter and clapping their hands, lead them astray, hide hats and baskets, quietly put them to sleep on an anthill, force them to climb a tree. , under the guise of a glass of vodka, they bring a fir cone, remove the wheels from the cart, etc. But at the same time, the goblin was also perceived as a kind and fair spirit who would not simply harm a person; he can help pick mushrooms or berries, show the way if asked, or take care of a lost child. Success in hunting and successful grazing of livestock depend on the goblin. :321, 325, 330 :314, 318-319, 323 Many mythological stories tell about the confrontation between man and the devil, about the search for a compromise between them. :270

According to folk etiquette, when going into the forest one should pray and ask the “owner” for permission to enter it. The devil's consent had to be asked for any activity in the forest. When going into the forest, you cannot say that you are going for a short time - this is not up to the person to decide, but to the devil. It is very dangerous to receive a curse from a relative before going into the forest - the goblin believed that the cursed people were promised to him. The goblin does not like it when people scold, make noise, and even more so whistle in the forest - this is his prerogative, he may be offended and will hasten to respond with his own destructive whistle. You should not imitate the echo and respond to an unfamiliar voice - it may turn out to be a devil. By protecting the forest, the goblin can prevent a person from cutting down trees (hides axes, scatters logs), much less maim them unnecessarily, and hunt (deflects a shot, deprives them of accuracy and the ability to shoot in general, lures them into impassable places). A person who is left to spend the night in a forest hut without asking (“Let him, master, not live forever, but spend one night.”), the goblin tries to scare him with noise, the cries of animals and birds, opening doors, etc., and drive him out, maybe even kill him. You cannot sleep on the trail for the night, as a goblin walking along it or a whole wedding of goblin could run over you. The goblin loves to warm itself by a human fire, but, when angry, it can scatter or trample it. A goblin could scare a person half to death if he behaved badly in the forest, confuse him with visions, or send him sick. :655, 658 :268-270, 273, 278, 302, 308-311 :325-326, 330-331, 339 :317-318, 322-323 :48

To summon the goblin, you need to chop young birch trees, put them in a circle with the tops in the center, stand in the circle, take off your cross and loudly shout “Grandfather!” You can also use a dull ax to cut down a pine tree in the forest so that when it falls, it knocks down two aspen trees, stand on them facing north and call the devil. On the night of Ivan Kupala, June 24 (July 7), you can cut down an aspen so that it falls to the east, stand on a stump facing east, bend down, look between your legs and say: “Uncle Goblin! Show yourself to be neither a gray wolf, nor a black raven, nor a fire spruce, show yourself as I am.” It was believed that you could also summon a devil with the words “Come tomorrow!” :663-664 :275-277 :331-332 :321 You can see the invisible goblin just like that, or his true appearance, by looking through the horse’s right ear, as well as using a harrow or a clamp. :277 :323

Success in fishing depends on the goblin; it is he who distributes the gifts of the forest among people. For a successful hunt, you can conclude an agreement with the goblin: bring him a gift - an Easter egg, bread and salt (with your hair or nails), etc.; or a sacrifice - your blood (from a finger) or the first prey; or write a contract in blood on paper or a leaf of a plant. The gift is left in the roots of an uprooted tree or at the crossroads of forest roads, and the person must remove the belt (amulet) and cross (renunciation of Christianity). The goblin himself can indicate to the hunter how to conclude an agreement. A person promised to fulfill certain conditions, for example, not to take more than a certain amount of prey or not to go hunting on certain days, etc. A deal with a goblin meant that the hunter put himself in his power and, with the consolidation of Christianity, was increasingly equated with selling your soul to the devil. The agreement with the goblin must be kept secret. In addition, to consolidate good luck in the hunt, conspiracies were used to appeal to the devil. Fulfilling the agreement, the forest owner brings a “herd” of animals under the hunter’s gun or drives them into his traps, and always makes the shot accurate. A person who violates a contract or its secret is deprived of the protection of the devil and may suffer serious punishment - illness or even death. :659, 663-664 :267, 273-279 :330-331 :320-321

It was believed that livestock in forest areas was grazed not so much by a shepherd as by a goblin. To protect the cattle from the devil, at the beginning of the season, the shepherd makes a ritual “roundabout” (“release”) of the cattle - he walks around the herd three times with magical objects, casting a spell. If the vacation is carried out with mistakes, then the goblin, offended by the use of magic against him, may try to take revenge on the people - to destroy as much livestock as possible, which is why the peasants preferred an agreement with him to the ritual of leaving against the goblin. For the latter, it was necessary on Yegoriya, April 23 (May 6), or around Nikolin's day, May 9 (22), for ritual purposes, go around the herd with a cross, drive it into a hollow, and sit down on an aspen stump or fallen birch tree and call the devil using a magical formula, promising him an offering - an Easter egg, bread and salt, or one or two cows. You don’t have to call the goblin, but simply put a gift for him under the birch tree, which will “look” at you. The cow promised to the goblin was considered “bequeathed” - it was supposed to disappear in the forest during the season. The agreement with the goblin was concluded using a strictly defined conspiracy formula, but, for a number of reasons, no one was able to write down its text. Also, to secure the agreement, the shepherd left a locked lock in the forest; it was believed that when the cows were grazing, the goblin unlocked it, and when they had to go to the village, he locked it. After the conclusion of the agreement, the goblin regularly grazed the cattle - either himself, or obliged his assistant or the goblin to do this. After this, the shepherd didn’t even need to go into the forest with the cows - he went about his business all day, distracted only by pasturing and corralling the cattle. Moreover, the shepherd could, at his own request, blow the trumpet and call any cattle from the forest. The shepherd who entered into an agreement with the goblin was subject to certain restrictions: he was not allowed to look after the cattle in the forest, beat them, kill forest animals, break trees, pick berries (especially black ones) and mushrooms, swear in the forest, cut hair and nails, give them to other people. your pipe and batog, touching other people (shaking hands, eating from the same dishes, washing together in a bathhouse, sleeping with your wife), seeing the dead and newborns; It was also prohibited during the season to sell livestock from the herd, comb wool from sheep, and violate the integrity of the fence. Violation of these taboos led to the breaking of the contract, which led to the death of the cattle, and even the shepherd. :657 :281-291 :331-335, 339 :320-321 :49

The goblin could steal livestock from people, especially those that had been cursed and sent “to the goblin.” The goblin could punish for a careless attitude towards livestock left unattended with the words that they would not go anywhere - after all, this is not up to the person, but the goblin. The cattle could be lost if they ended up in the place where the goblin had passed. The goblin could “tie” the cattle to a tree, so that it could not move away from it, although it ate all the grass around and was starving. Or even “close” (“hide”) the animal, as if placing it in another world, and people searching can hear a cow bell somewhere nearby. Or the goblin takes the animal to a remote, hard-to-reach place. The goblin could send wild animals - wolves, bears - to the cattle that the bad shepherd was tending. To find the missing cattle, the peasants undertook not only the usual searches, but also performed the ritual of “tasting” (“turning away”): at night or early in the morning they went to the crossroads of forest roads (or sent a “knowledgeable” person), where they tried to negotiate with the goblin. To do this, they presented him with a gift - an egg, bread with salt, etc., wrapped in a clean piece of cloth, tied with a red thread, they prayed to him or threatened him with magic (“cross” all the roads in the forest, tie up all the trees) or with the intercession of saints. If the missing cattle was not “bequeathed” to the goblin, then it either returned soon on its own, or the goblin told where it could be found, or told about its fate (killed by animals, stolen by one of the people, not walking in the forest). The goblin could also injure cattle. :291-298 :335-338 :320-321

The goblin is considered as the root cause of man's wandering in the forest, for which reason he is also called fornication, connecting rod, beckoned And drove. The man cannot find the way because the goblin has “bypassed” him, as if he has closed him in with an invisible circular line. The one who “crosses the trail of the devil” will get lost and will fall on his path. The goblin can close the path with an obstacle-obsession: a windbreak, a river, etc. Or it can also close the missing person himself - people hear that he is somewhere nearby, but they cannot find him. A goblin can “tie” a person to the tree in which he lives, in which case the traveler, wandering, always returns to him. He can falsify signs: pretend to be a landmark along which a person noticed the path, or a tree on which moss or short, sparse branches grow not on the north side, as expected, but on the south. A goblin can lead a hunter into a thicket, pretending to be an elusive animal, sometimes an outlandish one. Or it can start with the voice of a friend, a crying child or a dying person. A lost person finds himself in an unfamiliar place, which in everyday terms is understood as inaccessible, and in mythological terms as another world. The goblin can take the form of an acquaintance or simply an unknown fellow traveler and, distracting with conversations or promising to show places rich in mushrooms or berries, leads to an impassable place, after which it disappears. Its appearance in such cases is usually associated with the fact that the person dreamed of a traveling companion. Also, pretending to be a familiar person, a goblin can loom ahead at a distance, not allowing itself to be caught up and not responding. This companion disappears suddenly, often on the border with the cultural world - when crossing a bridge or fence. :660-661 :299-305 :325-329 :314, 318, 326 :49

To get rid of the spell of the devil, a lost person needs to take off all his clothes and put them on the other way around: inside out, backwards to front, swap shoes, turn over the insoles, etc. While undressing, you need to swear loudly and beat your clothes on a tree, and when getting dressed - read a prayer (the 90th Psalm is best) and say a spell. Likewise, if you get lost while riding a cart, you should re-harness the horses in reverse. You could also try to leave the forest backwards, following your own tracks. A. N. Afanasyev assumed that having changed clothes in this way, a person would not go in the direction in which the goblin was leading him, but in the opposite direction, and would come out onto the road. N.A. Krinichnaya pointed out that such dressing up helps to move from the other world to the diametrically opposite one, that is, the human one. E. L. Madlevskaya pointed out that after changing clothes, the goblin stops seeing the person. You can also simply ask the devil to show the way. :661 :305-307 :329-330 :323 :48-49 To find a missing person in the forest, people performed the same ritual of “tasting” (“turning away”) as in the case of a missing pet, only there were several gifts more valuable are not only bread and salt, but also pancakes, pies, a pot of porridge, a piece of lard. If it was possible to come to an agreement with the goblin, then he would show the missing person the way or even lead him out of the forest himself, or “open” him to those looking for him - the missing person could end up in the place where they had already searched for him to no avail. Relatives also sought help against the goblin from the brownie, turning to him by “barking” into the pipe. :306-307 :330

Like other demonic characters, the goblin can kidnap people. People of any age and gender can fall apart. Most often, the reason for abduction is a curse, especially a parental one, in the form of a message “to the devil.” If a cursed child can be baptized, the goblin waits until he turns 7 years old, after which he lures him into the forest.

Leshy also lure children who have a bad life in their family with a kind attitude, so they call the goblin “good uncle.” Can kidnap babies. In return for the kidnapped child, goblins sometimes put a “changeling” in the cradle - a bundle of straw, a log or a block of wood, sometimes they leave their brainchild, ugly, stupid and gluttonous, taking on the image of the kidnapped child, but distorted, ugly, the changeling is evil, yells a lot, can’t do anything. walks or talks, shows no signs of intelligence; after some time, as a rule, he dies or upon reaching 11 years of age, the changeling runs away into the forest, and if he remains among people, he becomes a sorcerer. The goblin raise the kidnapped children: according to some stories, they receive secret knowledge and become sorcerers and healers, and according to others, they run wild, cease to understand human speech, cease to wear clothes, and become overgrown with moss and bark. Often they become invisible to people, although they themselves see their relatives, hear their conversations, experience separation, but cannot open up. According to N.A. Krinichnaya, they seem to dissolve in nature. The goblin take the kidnapped girls as wives and can have children with them. If a woman living in a village gives birth to a devil, then her child soon disappears. A goblin can also kidnap a person for the purpose of turning him into a slave. According to other stories, “kidnapped” (lost) people die from exhaustion, hunger, falling into a hole or falling into a quagmire. :665 :311-314, 317 :324-325 :319-320 :49

You can protect yourself from kidnapping immediately after the curse, using Christian (pray, cross, remember God, perform a prayer service) or pagan means (say “mind me,” cast a spell, perform a ritual of “tasting”), or even simply by catching up in time and catching up "carried away" into the forest. There are chances to return someone who has already been taken to another world, but usually only at a certain moment (prompted by the sorcerer or random) after some time has passed after the loss. There was a belief that in order to return home, a kidnapped person should not eat the food of the goblin (but in other stories, people treated themselves to the goblin and returned, but the food they took with them turned into pine cones, moss, etc.). A goblin could return a person he had abducted long ago if another person helped him. Those who return from the devil change. They avoid people, learn to speak again, and become mentally damaged. Or, on the contrary, they become focused and serious, acquire the ability to perform witchcraft, predict their own and others’ fates, and communicate with spirits (goblin, brownies). Those who return are drawn back to the forest. They do not tell everything about their stay with the devil, since they could pay with their lives for this. For girls, the effect of abduction wears off after marriage. They note the connection between abduction and death, and forests with the kingdom of the dead. :314-319 :319-323 :50

To get rid of the goblin, if he is perceived as an evil spirit, prayer, the sign of the cross, mentioning God can help, but in cases where the goblin is perceived as an ancient deity, swearing is more effective, and you can also try to make the goblin laugh. To end a conversation with a goblin, you need to say the “back word,” that is, the one that he (or the person himself) said first, as if closing the verbal circle. Salt and fire, a circle outlined by a “magical” object, a lutoshka (a linden stick peeled from the bark), and a firebrand serve as amulets against the devil. The goblin is afraid of dogs with light spots above their eyes (since they supposedly can see evil spirits) and calico cats. You can drive away a goblin with a backhand blow. He is afraid of firearms, especially those loaded with copper button bullets. :655 :304, 308-310 :325-326, 339 :322-324

In the Russian North, the expression “the devil has stepped” is noted about something that was done poorly.

Leshy in the folk calendar

Leshy can be found at any time of the day. There is a belief that at midnight goblins come out to play, run with the first roosters to the “nearest inch” and make noise there until the second roosters, after which they disperse. :267 Like other spirits, goblin celebrate the arrival of spring and Easter (the best gift for a goblin is an Easter egg). In the summer, goblin noisily celebrate weddings. :653-654 :253, 267-268 :338-339 :324-326

About the disappearance of goblin

By the second half of the 20th century, people had the idea that goblins began to appear much less frequently, or even disappeared altogether. :326 But, nevertheless, the goblin remains one of the most popular characters in epic tales to this day. :314

One of our correspondents innocently and frankly reported - with a guarantee for his entire area - the following: “This trash has now disappeared. Our grandfathers used to say that in those days when there were more forests and swamps with bogs, it’s better not to walk at night into the forest: this rubbish will meet you, and that’s all.”

Maksimov S.V. Collection op. St. Petersburg, 1912. T. 18. P. 87

Now, according to foreigners, there are much fewer of them than there were before, which can be explained by the appearance of firearms, which the menkws (goblins), especially those loaded with copper bullets, are most afraid of

Gondatti N.L. Traces of paganism among foreigners of North-Western Siberia - M., 1888. P. 34

Related characters

Some signs of the thunder god Perun are visible in the goblin: in a storm he knocks down trees, sings and makes noise, laughs like thunder, and at this time the little goblins run out to play. Sometimes the goblin is directly depicted as the ruler of the elements. :254, 265, 267 As the patron of shepherds and domestic animals, the goblin has a possible connection with the “cattle god” Veles (Volos) and the Christian saints, to whom the functions of the latter were transferred in dual faith. :280, 298

The goblin has a close relationship with the spirit-master of the fields - field: the separation of the field from the goblin is assumed in the process of people moving away from slash-and-burn agriculture (separation of the field from the forest) and re-merging with it when the mythological tradition dissolves. :249, 265 The South Slavic character called wolf shepherd, Ukrainian fox and Russian Egory Brave. :657 :271, 277-280 :325 The motif of tickling to death unites goblin and Russians wild men- furry creatures that live in the forest. :656, 660 Belarusians believed that in addition to ordinary goblin there are foresters, living in a virgin forest and destroying people who penetrate there. :324 The names of the devil fornication mentioned above (Ukrainian) Russian , beckoned, etc. and boletus or boletus (the old man is the owner of mushrooms, living under them and feeding on them) in some places can already be considered as separate characters. :326 The images of the “evil” goblin and the devil were under mutual influence. :656 :257, 307-308, 322 :42, 47

The Russian image of the goblin influenced the images of the forest spirits of the Russian peoples: arzyuri among the Chuvash, vorsa among the Komi, nyulesmurt among the Udmurts, picen among the West Siberian Tatars, shurale among the Kazan Tatars and Bashkirs and others. Similar characters in other mythologies are Greek satyrs, Roman fauns, German foresters (Waldleute, Holzleute), and mosswolves (German) Russian (Moosleute) people. :653

Leshy in the Bible and in religious tradition

In the Life of Nikodim Kozheozersky there is a story about the shepherd Gregory, who got lost in the forest and saw in front of him the appearance of a man in a gray robe, who was holding bells in his hand and ringing them. The forest demon brought the boy to his dwelling, where there were already an old man and young men, who had also once been taken away by the goblin. Thanks to the posthumous intercession of Saint Gregory, he was able to find himself at home. The narrative contains precise indications of the time and place of the incident (Occur in the summer of May 7196 on the 15th day, on the Onega River, on the river called Syzhtugi)

Leshy in art

The goblin is a popular character in folk and literary fairy tales, Slavic fairy-tale films and cartoons, and Slavic fantasy. His image is found in songs and paintings.

At the thirteenth hour of the night (1969) - the role of Leshy is played by Spartak Mishulin
Merry Magic (1969) - played by Valentin Bryleev
Golden Horns (1972) - played by Alexey Smirnov
Andrei and the Evil Sorcerer (1981) - played by Mikhail Kononov
New Year's Adventures of Masha and Viti (1975) and A Real Fairy Tale (2011) - the role is played by Georgy Shtil
Dear Leshy - Soviet cartoon, 1988
Supernatural (TV series) - Leshy is a monster hunted by brothers Sam and Dean Winchester in episode 5 (Fallen Idol) (“Thou Shalt Not Make Thyself an Idol”) of season 5 of the TV series “Supernatural”, the role of Leshy was played by Paris Hilton

Literature

Afanasyev A. N. XVII. The Tree of Life and Forest Spirits // Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. - 1865-1869.[many reissues]
- Orlov M. A. Russian devilry // The history of relations between man and the devil. - 1904.[many reprints; the text about the goblin is a retelling of the factual basis of the corresponding chapter from “Poetic views of the Slavs on nature” by A. N. Afanasyev]
Krinichnaya N. A. Chapter III. Leshy: totemic origins and polysemanticism of the image // Russian mythology: The world of folklore images. - M.: Academic project; Gaudeamus, 2004. - pp. 247-323. - 1008 p. - (Summa). - ISBN 5-8291-0388-5, ISBN 5-98426-022-0
Levkievskaya E. E. Leshy // Myths of the Russian people. - M.: Astrel, AST, 2000. - P. 320-339. - 528 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-271-00676-X, ISBN 5-17-002811-3
Madlevskaya E. L. Leshy // Russian mythology. Encyclopedia. - Eksmo, Midgard, 2005. - P. 314-327. - 784 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-699-13535-6
Warner E. Leshy // Russian myths / Translation from English. M. Zvonareva. - M.: FAIR, 2008. - P. 47-50. - 112 s. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8183-1438-9 (Russian), ISBN 0-7141-2743-4 (English)

Notes

Afanasyev A. N. XVII. The Tree of Life and Forest Spirits // Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. - Slavic mythology. - M.: Eksmo, St. Petersburg: Midgard, 2008. - P. 653-665. - 1520 s. - (Giants of thought). - 4100 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-27982-1, ISBN 5-91016-014-3

The goblin is the master spirit of the forests among the Eastern Slavs. Collectors of folklore paid attention to it quite late: for the first time, legends and stories about the goblin were recorded in the 18th century, but most of the information about him was recorded in the 19th century.

Other nations also have their own beliefs about the devil. In Germany his name is Rübetzal, the Scandinavians - Skugsman, in the Caucasus - Dali, in ancient times the Greeks and Romans believed in fauns and Pan. And what is the owner of Russian forests?

Origin

Folklorist E. Pomerantseva cites a legend that God, angry, cast down unclean spirits from heaven. They fell wherever they had to: some - on houses, others - in forests, others - in water. The first ones became brownies, those who fell into the water became merman, and those who fell into the forest became goblins. There is a version that Adam was embarrassed to present all his children to God, and he hid some of them. It was from them that unclean spirits emerged, including goblin. The famous folklore researcher D. Zelenin reports that in a number of Russian provinces there was a belief that “mortgage” dead people, that is, people who died an unnatural death or suicides, became goblin.

Appearance

The appearance of a goblin can be very different. It may have horns or goat hooves. The growth of a goblin varies depending on where he is: in the forest he is as tall as the tallest trees, and if he happens to go out into the field, he becomes no taller than the grass.

Sometimes the goblin is described as an old man in a white shirt with long green disheveled hair and the same beard.

But the goblin can also appear to people in the form of a person. The only things that give him away are his green, very bright eyes and clothes - his coat is wrapped on the “female” side, his right bast shoe is on his left foot, his left shoe is on his right, and the goblin is always without a hat. Knowledgeable people will recognize him by his corny ears.

In addition, the goblin can take the form of someone familiar to the person, for example, a neighbor or relative. There are countless cases when the goblin appears in the form of a wolf, stallion or large bird.

Lifestyle

Pomerantseva notes that according to popular beliefs, every forest has its own goblin. His main concern is to take care of the forest in which he lives and its inhabitants - animals and birds, so the goblin is not very fond of people, especially hunters and shepherds. Those who come to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries also get it from him. Therefore, hunters and shepherds tried to get along with the forest owner - they left him gifts in secluded places. It could be food or even vodka. In the forest, knowledgeable people try not to make noise and under no circumstances whistle, so as not to anger the devil. Before picking berries, they also asked permission from the devil: “Hostess, help me pick berries and not get lost.”

In most stories, the goblin is alone, but sometimes he has a goblin wife and lesh children, as well as neighbors and goblin friends from other forests. The appearance of the goblin is as vague as the appearance of the goblin itself. She can be a creepy creature: shaggy, with bare breasts thrown over her back, or an ordinary-looking woman, but as tall as a tree. Little leprechauns love to play pranks and play around in the forest; this usually happens at night, when terrible snowstorms occur.

According to folklore collector S. Maksimov, the goblin loves to play cards with his neighbors. They play on animals living in the forest. The losing goblin drives squirrels, hares, bears, moose and other animals from his forest to the winner. On October 4, the day of Erofey, goblins run through the forest, fight and brawl, and then with a crash and roar they fall through the ground for the whole winter. Not a single Russian peasant in the old days went into the forest on this day of his own free will.

Temperament

Leshy loves cruel and rude jokes. His main fun is to get a passerby lost in the forest. People who have been fooled by the goblin can walk around the forest in circles for hours, returning to the same place again and again. Mushroom pickers and hunters who experienced such fear later swear that they even saw a goblin flashing between the trees, hooting and hooting so that there was a roar throughout the forest. If the goblin gets really angry, he will lead the person into a swamp or throw him into a hole, from where the unfortunate person can no longer get out. However, the goblin is funny, and you can save yourself from it if you make him laugh. Pomerantseva cites a story about how a fisherman, seeing a goblin over a forest stream, shouted: “These would be niches and red pants.” The goblin starts laughing, clapping his hands and disappears. Women who pick mushrooms and berries also escape from the forest owner.

Attitude towards people

Among the most dangerous tricks of the devil are child abductions. When sending their children to the forest to pick berries, mothers placed a piece of bread wrapped in a clean rag on a stump and said: “King of the forest, accept our gift and low bow, accept my little children and send them home.” Pomerntseva, Zelenin and Maksimov cite many stories about how the devil took children who were cursed by their mother. Sometimes he takes young girls into the forest, who become his wives, and after a few years return home with whole bags of money.

If you find an approach to a devil, he becomes a person’s assistant. Maksimov tells stories about successful hunters, for whom the owner of the forest himself drives the animal to gunpoint. The shepherds, in order to return the lagging (hijacked) cows, threw a piece of bread over the heads of the cattle. To summon the devil, the bravest came to the forest on Maundy Thursday, climbed a birch tree and shouted loudly three times: “King of the forest, father to all the animals, come here!” And he appeared and told all the secrets and the future.

Life is short: Break the rules - Say goodbye quickly - Kiss slowly - Love sincerely - Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret what made you smile.

Leshy (master of the forest, forest spirit, leshak, forest man, forest grandfather) is a spirit, the owner of the forest in the mythological ideas of the Slavic peoples.

“There was only God and the devil on earth. God created man, and the devil tried to create, but he created not a man, but a devil, and no matter how hard he tried and worked, he still could not create a man, all of his devils came out. God saw that the devil had already created several devils, became angry with him and ordered Archangel Gabriel to overthrow Satan and all evil spirits from heaven. Gabriel overthrew. Whoever fell into the forest became a goblin, whoever fell into the water became a merman, whoever fell into a house became a brownie. That's why they have different names. And they are all the same demons.”
- Dilaktorsky P. From the traditions and legends of the Kadnikovsky district of the Vologda province // Ethnographic review. M., 1899. No. 3

The Belarusian version produces goblin from the “twelve pairs of children” of Adam and Eve. When God came to see the children, the parents showed him six pairs, and six others were “shown under an oak tree.” From the six pairs presented to God came people, and from the others - evil spirits, which are not inferior to them in number.

One of the Mansi legends says that when creating man, the gods used clay and larch. People created from larch scattered through the forests with great speed and called them “menkws” (goblins); they are strong and do not drown in water. And the slow creatures molded from clay became ordinary people, whose lifespan is short: “If a person falls into the water, he drowns, it becomes hot, and water comes out of him.”

According to Polish belief, the goblin likes to sit on old dry trees in the form of an owl, and therefore peasants are afraid to cut down such trees. According to Russian belief, the goblin also likes to hide in the hollows of such trees. There is a saying about this: “From an empty hollow, either an owl, an owl, or Satan himself.” Les spend most of their time in trees; swinging and “fooling around” is their favorite pastime, which is why in some provinces they gave it the name “zybochnik” (from zybka, cradle).

For a successful hunt, you can conclude an agreement with the goblin: bring him a gift - an Easter egg, bread and salt (with your hair or nails), etc.; or a sacrifice - your blood (from a finger) or the first prey; or write a contract in blood on paper or a leaf of a plant. The gift is left in the roots of an uprooted tree or at the crossroads of forest roads, and the person must remove the belt (amulet) and cross (renunciation of Christianity). The goblin himself can indicate to the hunter how to conclude an agreement. A person promised to fulfill certain conditions, for example, not to take more than a certain amount of prey or not to go hunting on certain days, etc. A deal with a goblin meant that the hunter put himself in his power and, with the consolidation of Christianity, was increasingly equated with selling your soul to the devil. The agreement with the goblin must be kept secret. In addition, to consolidate good luck in the hunt, conspiracies were used to appeal to the devil. Fulfilling the agreement, the forest owner brings a “herd” of animals under the hunter’s gun or drives them into his traps, and always makes the shot accurate. A person who violates a contract or its secret is deprived of the protection of the devil and may suffer serious punishment - illness or even death.

It was believed that livestock in forest areas was grazed not so much by a shepherd as by a goblin. To protect the cattle from the devil, at the beginning of the season, the shepherd makes a ritual “roundabout” (“release”) of the cattle - he walks around the herd three times with magical objects, casting a spell. If the vacation is carried out with mistakes, then the goblin, offended by the use of magic against him, may try to take revenge on the people - to destroy as much livestock as possible, which is why the peasants preferred an agreement with him to the ritual of leaving against the goblin. For the latter, it was necessary on Yegoriya, April 23 (May 6), or around Nikolin's day, May 9 (22), for ritual purposes, go around the herd with a cross, drive it into a hollow, and sit down on an aspen stump or a fallen birch tree and call the devil using a magical formula, promising him an offering - an Easter egg, bread and salt, or one or two cows. You don’t have to call the goblin, but simply put a gift for him under the birch tree, which will “look” at you. The cow promised to the goblin was considered “bequeathed” - it was supposed to disappear in the forest during the season. The agreement with the goblin was concluded using a strictly defined conspiracy formula, but, for a number of reasons, no one was able to write down its text. Also, to secure the agreement, the shepherd left a locked lock in the forest; it was believed that when the cows were grazing, the goblin unlocked it, and when they had to go to the village, he locked it. After the conclusion of the agreement, the goblin regularly grazed the cattle - either himself, or obliged his assistant or the goblin to do this. After this, the shepherd didn’t even need to go into the forest with the cows - he went about his business all day, distracted only by pasturing and corralling the cattle. Moreover, the shepherd could, at his own request, blow the trumpet and call any cattle from the forest. The shepherd who entered into an agreement with the goblin was subject to certain restrictions: he was not allowed to look after the cattle in the forest, beat them, kill forest animals, break trees, pick berries (especially black ones) and mushrooms, swear in the forest, cut hair and nails, give them to other people. your pipe and batog, touching other people (shaking hands, eating from the same dishes, washing together in a bathhouse, sleeping with your wife), seeing the dead and newborns; It was also prohibited during the season to sell livestock from the herd, comb wool from sheep, and violate the integrity of the fence. Violation of these taboos led to the breaking of the contract, which led to the death of the cattle, and even the shepherd.

Leshy also lure children who have a bad life in their family with a kind attitude, so they call the goblin “good uncle.” Can kidnap babies. In exchange for the kidnapped child, goblins sometimes put a “changeling” in the cradle - a bundle of straw, a log or a block of wood, sometimes they leave their brainchild, ugly, stupid and gluttonous, taking on the image of the kidnapped child, but distorted, ugly, the changeling is angry, yells a lot, can’t do anything. walks or talks, shows no signs of intelligence; after some time, as a rule, he dies or upon reaching 11 years of age, the changeling runs away into the forest, and if he remains among people, he becomes a sorcerer. The goblin raise the kidnapped children: according to some stories, they receive secret knowledge and become sorcerers and healers, and according to others, they run wild, cease to understand human speech, cease to wear clothes, and become overgrown with moss and bark. Often they become invisible to people, although they themselves see their relatives, hear their conversations, experience separation, but cannot open up. According to N.A. Krinichnaya, they seem to dissolve in nature. The goblin take the kidnapped girls as wives and can have children with them. If a woman living in a village gives birth to a devil, then her child soon disappears. A goblin can also kidnap a person for the purpose of turning him into a slave. According to other stories, “kidnapped” (lost) people die from exhaustion, hunger, falling into a hole or falling into a quagmire.

To get rid of the goblin, if he is perceived as an evil spirit, prayer, the sign of the cross, mentioning God can help, but in cases where the goblin is perceived as an ancient deity, swearing works more accurately, and you can also try to make the goblin laugh. To end a conversation with a goblin, you need to say the “back word,” that is, the one that he (or the person himself) said first, as if closing the verbal circle. Salt and fire, a circle outlined by a “magical” object, a lutoshka (a linden stick peeled from the bark), and a firebrand serve as amulets against the devil. The goblin is afraid of dogs with light spots above their eyes (since they supposedly can see evil spirits) and calico cats. You can drive away a goblin with a backhand blow. He is afraid of firearms.

The goblin can predict the fate of the person he meets. It was believed that on Maundy Thursday you could come to the forest, sit on an old birch tree and ask the devil who appeared about the future. The ritual of fortune telling was widespread, most often on Christmastide, at night in the forest, usually at a crossroads. Fortune tellers drew three fence circles around themselves with a magical object (poker, torch, etc.) or outlined the skin of an animal, on which they sat, placed a piece of bread and sometimes other objects next to them and asked the devil what would happen next year. The answer was various forest sounds in which people “felt” meaning. It was believed that the goblin agreed to answer only three questions. For non-compliance with the ritual, the fortuneteller could pay severely.

Goblin- the master spirit of the forest in the mythological ideas of the Slavic peoples.

About the origin of goblin

Ideas about the origin of goblin are blurred. It is widely believed that cursed people, those who died unbaptized, or children who were exchanged by evil spirits become goblin. In popular Christianity, goblins were considered as forest devils - creations of the devil, or as Adam's children not presented to God.

The Vologda version of the legend talks about the goblin as the spawn of the devil:

There was only God and the devil on earth. God created man, and the devil tried to create, but he created not a man, but a devil, and no matter how hard he tried and worked, he still could not create a man, all of his devils came out. God saw that the devil had already created several devils, became angry with him and ordered Archangel Gabriel to overthrow Satan and all evil spirits from heaven. Gabriel overthrew. Whoever fell into the forest became a goblin, whoever fell into the water became a merman, whoever fell into a house became a brownie. That's why they have different names. And they are all the same demons.

Dilaktorsky P. From the traditions and legends of the Kadnikovsky district of the Vologda province // Ethnographic review. M., 1899. No. 3

External signs

The appearance of the goblin indicates his otherworldly nature and connection with the forest. As the personification of the forest, it can take on a variety of images associated with it. The idea of it is syncretic: it is at the same time a many-sided spirit, an animal, a plant, and a person.

According to some beliefs, the growth of a goblin varies depending on the vegetation surrounding it: in the forest it is as tall as the tallest trees, and in a clearing it is as tall as the grass. At the same time, the goblin can be either higher or lower than the forest at will. The goblin was often represented as a giant capable of stepping over rivers. In the Russian North there was an idea that goblin are divided by size into foresters, boletus And moss flyers.

A goblin can appear as a phytoanthropomorphic creature with a preponderance of traits in one direction or another in each realization. It happens that this is a completely plant object - a tree (revered trees are pine, spruce, birch, oak, indicating demonic aspen, etc.), bush, stump, leaf, moss, etc. Then human characteristics begin to appear in them: shape, branches like hair. On the other hand, anthropomorphism can dominate, and the connection with vegetation is manifested in significant detail: long, scraggly green hair like the branches of a tree or bush, a lichen beard, moss-covered clothing with a woody color and texture, a moss-covered face, skin thick as bark. Finally, plant traits can be reduced to attributes: green twigs woven into the hair of a leprechaun, a club or batog in the hands, a green beard and green eyes. The association with the forest is complemented by the ability of the goblin to whip a person with twigs, make noise, buzz, and crack trees.

A goblin can also appear as a zooanthropomorphic creature, again with a different proportion of characteristics. This can be an animal, both wild - a bear, wolf, crow, magpie, etc., and domestic - a dog, black cat, horse, black goat, etc.. The goblin often appears as a half-man, half-goat (like a devil): black fur all over the body, small, curled horns (the goblin kings have golden ones), hooves, long hair on the head and a long beard. Or is it a person with signs of an animal: hairiness, clothes made of animal skin, animal sounds, claws on hands and feet, hooves, tail, wings, horse bridles, etc. An animal can accompany the devil: a black dog, a black goat.

The anthropomorphic image of the devil predominates. It can be either a giant or an ordinary-looking person. Often the goblin appears in the form of a relative, neighbor, acquaintance, and the deception is revealed only upon arrival home, when it turns out that the person encountered at that time was in a completely different place, and can take on the image of a deceased person. It is common to imagine a goblin as an old man with long gray disheveled (or combed to the left) hair and a long gray (sometimes green) beard, green eyes (or unnaturally pale, even white, or lead-blue, or shiny). The human image of a goblin is characterized by the desire to hide one’s face, the reluctance to look into the eyes of the interlocutor, the absence of eyebrows and eyelashes, and sometimes nostrils or the right ear, or one eye (or bulging eyes, or the right eye is always motionless and larger than the left, or eyes are larger than human ones ), blue blood and, as a result, blue skin (sometimes the blue color is transferred to clothing), lack of shadow; when the goblin sits, he crosses his left leg over his right. According to some northern tales collected by P. N. Rybnikov, the blood of a goblin is dark, and not light, like that of people, which is why it is also called “blue-shaped” (“blue” in ancient times meant “dark”). Belarusians believed that the goblin had a long face, flattened with the edge forward, a long wedge-shaped beard, one eye and one leg, with the heel forward.

If the goblin has clothes, then they are turned inside out, wrapped around the left hem on the right, the shoes are mixed up, and he himself, as a rule, is not belted: “The goblin rushes through his forests like mad, quickly, barely traceable and always without a hat,” often with a huge club in hand. Described as pointed-headed, wedge-shaped and shaggy, with hair combed to the left. Tough, but can be killed with a gun. According to other sources, he is an ordinary old man, small, stooped, with a white beard. Novgorodians assured that this old man wears white clothes and a large hat, and when he sits down, he crosses his left leg over his right.

The goblin is dressed like an ordinary person. He often appears in the form of a forester or a soldier. Usually he wears a Siberian jacket, an army jacket, a gray homespun woolen caftan, leather or fur clothing. But the most typical thing for a goblin is white clothing like a robe or cassock, with wide sleeves and also a wide and white hat. According to some versions, he is always belted, and according to others, he is always without a belt. His typical shoes are bast shoes, sometimes huge ones; often he is caught weaving them or picking at them while sitting on a stump in the light of the moon. Sometimes he wears clothes that are not typical for the forest, for example, in a black suit. The left hem of his clothes is tucked over the right - like women's, while the right hem can be “tucked in”, the shoes are mixed up - they are put on the wrong feet. In later tales, the goblin is dressed in modern clothes: a cap, boots or shoes, etc. The goblin usually holds a whip, batog, club or purse in his hands. The devil is often seen naked.

The leshachiha also appears in various guises. She may look like an ordinary woman, but with ragged clothes and loose hair with green branches woven into it. Or like a tall, decrepit old woman, leaning on a stick and rocking as if in a doze. Afanasyev, in his work “Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature,” also provides information about venisons: “The popular imagination gives them such huge and long breasts that they are forced to throw them over their shoulders and only then can they walk and run freely.” And the imp sitting on its back, which sucks the breast, is hidden and warmed by the long hair of the female leprechaun. These women are overgrown, shaggy, and have matted hair.

The goblin has enormous power. He may be very heavy, so much so that the horse is unable to pull the cart on which he sits; his hand is also heavy. The goblin can be invisible to people, he can suddenly or gradually disappear. A strong wind accompanies a goblin walking in front and behind, by the direction of which one can determine where it is heading. This wind covers up the traces of the goblin, therefore, according to one version, no one saw them (but in other stories the goblin leaves traces).

Lifestyle

All the phenomena caused by gusts of wind in the forest are attributed to the goblin: howling, cracking of trees, rustling of leaves - this is the goblin whistling, clapping his hands, laughing, singing, making animal sounds. The goblin often repeats the words spoken by a person - like an echo, which in the forest is considered the response of the goblin. The goblin loves to hang and swing on tree branches, which is why in some places they call him a ravine worker(shaky - cradle, cradle). He often sits on a tree or stump and weaves bast shoes or makes crafts from wood. In some regions, falling trees and hurricane winds tearing off roofs were associated with weddings of goblin. Goblin can be at enmity with each other (it is said that goblin fight with each other, using trees and boulders as weapons), with devils, water creatures, field creatures and brownies.

Leshim also really like to sing, sometimes for a long time and at the top of their lungs (like a storm), accompanying themselves by clapping their hands.

Such a character as Leshy has been known to all of us since kindergarten and reading Ural fairy tales. It must be said that legends about this character exist among many peoples of the world, and each of them called him differently. But they all agree on one thing - the definition of a character. So, according to legend, the goblin is the guardian spirit of the forest. There is no exact idea of what he looks like. Most likely, the character simply knows how to change his appearance depending on his desire and situation. He can appear in the form of a bear, a tree, a man or a decrepit old man. THE GOBBLE: AN ORDINARY PERSON IT IS ALSO BELIEVED THAT DEPENDING ON THE TERRAIN AND VEGETATION IN WHICH THE GOBBLE LIVES, HE CAN CHANGE HIS GROWTH. A SPECIAL SIGN IS CONSIDERED THAT THE CHARACTER WEARS SHOES IN THE REVERSE WAY. ACCORDING TO LEGEND, THE CHARACTER, APPEARING TO PEOPLE, PRETENDED TO BE AN ORDINARY PERSON. BUT IT WAS A POSSIBILITY TO UNDERSTAND WHO HE REALLY IS IF YOU LOOK AT HIM THROUGH THE HORSE'S RIGHT EAR. IF THE VILLAGE WAS BELIEVED THAT THIS FOREST SPIRIT LIVED IN SOME PART OF THE FOREST, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO STAY AWAY. SO AS NOT TO DISTURB OR ANGER. IN ADDITION, BEFORE EACH ENTRY INTO THE FOREST, YOU HAD TO ASK PERMISSION FROM THE FOREST SPIRIT, SINCE THE FOREST WAS CONSIDERED HIS HOME. LESHY: WILD LAUGH OR NOISE In general, the character is credited with a number of qualities with which he complicated human life. Thus, he often frightened people with wild laughter or noise of various kinds. But the most important thing is that the goblin led people in circles. However, the victim always had a chance to find his way. To do this, one had to turn the jacket inside out, or turn the insole of the shoe over. But at the same time, it was forbidden to utter obscene words in any case, since they are prohibited in the forest. LESHIY: A CUSTOM IN THE URAL To appease the character, various goodies were brought from home to him. In addition, there was a custom of giving thanks for prey, whether for mushrooms or berries. There was such a custom in the Urals. It was necessary to place petitions to the spirit under the rowan tree, which he fulfilled if he liked them. It was possible to agree with the spirit on many things. So, he often helped protect livestock, and for this he was given milk, bread or cows.

Leshy or forest man, leshak, forest, forest spirit - the spirit of the forest in Slavic mythology. The goblin lives in every forest, especially loves spruce trees. Dressed like a man - a red sash, the left side of the caftan is usually wrapped behind the right side, and not vice versa, as everyone wears. The shoes are mixed up: the right shoe is on the left foot, the left shoe is on the right. The goblin's eyes are green and burn like coals.

No matter how carefully he hides his unclean origin, he fails to do this: if you look at him through the horse’s right ear, the goblin has a bluish tint, because his blood is blue. His eyebrows and eyelashes are not visible, he has corny ears (no right ear), and the hair on his head is combed to the left. A goblin can become a stump and a hummock, turn into an animal and a bird, he turns into a bear and a grouse, a hare, and anyone, even a plant, because he is not only the spirit of the forest, but also its essence: he is overgrown with moss, sniffles as if the forest is noisy, It not only shows itself as spruce, but also spreads like moss and grass. The goblin differs from other spirits by special properties inherent to him alone: if he walks through the forest, he is as tall as the tallest trees. But at the same time, going out for walks, fun and jokes on the forest edges, he walks there like a small blade of grass, below the grass, freely hiding under any berry leaf. But, in fact, he rarely goes out to the meadows, strictly observing the rights of his neighbor, called the field worker, or field worker. The goblin also does not enter villages, so as not to quarrel with brownies and baenniks, especially in those villages where completely black roosters crow, “two-eyed” dogs (with spots above the eyes in the form of second eyes) and three-haired cats live near the huts.But in the forest, the goblin is a full-fledged and unlimited master: all animals and birds are under his jurisdiction and obey him unrequitedly. Hares are especially subordinate to him. He has them as complete serfs, at least he even has the power to lose them at cards to the neighboring goblin. Squirrel herds are not exempt from the same dependence, and if they, migrating in countless hordes and forgetting all fear of man, run into big cities, and jump across rooftops, fall into chimneys and even jump out of windows, then the matter is clear: that means , a whole team of goblin played a game of chance and the defeated side drove the loss into the possessions of the lucky opponent.A real goblin vocalist: he can sing without words and encourages himself by clapping his hands. He sometimes sings at the top of his lungs (with the same force as the forest rustles in a storm) almost from evening until midnight; he does not like the crowing of a rooster and immediately falls silent at the first cry. The goblin rushes through his forests like crazy, with extreme speed and always without a hat. Leshy know how to laugh, call, whistle and cry like humans, and if they become speechless, it is only when they meet real, living people.Leshy do not so much harm people as they play pranks and jokes, and in this case they are quite similar to their relatives - brownies. They play rude pranks, as befits clumsy forest dwellers, and joke evilly, because after all, they are not their brother, a baptized person. The most common methods of pranks and jokes of goblin are that they “deceive” a person: they will either “lead” anyone who goes deep into the thicket with the aim of picking mushrooms or berries to a place from which there is no way out, or they will put such a fog in their eyes, that they will be completely confused, and a lost person will circle around the forest for a long time in the same place.

However, in all such adventures, the goblin still does not lead people to direct death, as the real devil does. Moreover, you can easily get rid of the leprosy of the devil, of course, first of all with prayer and the sign of the cross, and then with the help of well-known techniques that are taught from childhood, according to the commandments of our fathers and great-grandfathers. Thus, a person who is lost is recommended to sit down on the first deck, take off his clothes and turn them inside out, and then put them on himself in this form. It is also necessary to put the left bast shoe on the right leg or the right mitten on the left hand. If two or three are in trouble, then they should all change clothes, having first turned them inside out (in this case, it is recommended to imitate the custom of the same devil, who has everything inside out and inside out). You can get out of trouble in the same way by saying the goblin’s favorite saying, which lucky people managed to overhear from him from afar: “I walked, found, lost,” or shout: “Sheep’s face, sheep’s wool,” and the goblin will immediately disappear shouting: “Ah.” , guessed it!”There are, however, cases when all methods of fighting goblins prove powerless. This happens once a year, on that sacred day when goblin go berserk (October 4/17), against the martyr Erofey. On this day, knowledgeable peasants do not go into the forest.On the eve of Midsummer (June 24/July 7), one could easily see the goblin in the forest and even conclude an agreement with him. The shepherds especially tried to do this so that the forest animals would not destroy the flock. Elijah's Day (July 20/August 2) is considered a holiday for goblin, when wolf dens open and all kinds of animals roam free. On Agathon the Ogumennik (August 22/September 4), goblins come out of the forest and rush around the villages, trying to scatter sheaves, so the owners on this day and night guard their threshing floors in sheepskin coats, put on inside out, with towels wrapped around their heads and holding a poker in their hands.On September 14/27, on Exaltation, we also have freedom in the forest: peasants do not go there for fear of getting into a gathering of snakes and foresters who say goodbye to all the animals until next spring. Well, after the Exaltation, the goblin ordered Erofei the Martyr (October 4/17) to disappear or freeze. Before this, they start furious fights, break trees with a crash, chase animals in vain and finally fall through the ground, only to appear on it again when it moves away, thaws in the spring, and begin their pranks again, all in the same way. In general, being afraid of the evil and unexpected plans of the goblin, the forest people are not averse to laughing at him, and all baptized Rus' considers using his name as a dirty word as their first pleasure (“Go to the goblin,” “The goblin would crush you,” etc.).It is not for nothing that the myth of goblin has existed on Earth for millennia. According to popular views, the goblin serves as an unconscious weapon of punishment for a person’s voluntary and involuntary sins. For example, a goblin carried away a man in front of everyone because he was swearing obscenely while climbing the bell tower. The goblin punishes even more strongly for uttering curses, and if it happens, for example, that a woman in labor, having lost all patience in the throes of childbirth, curses herself and the child, then the child is considered the property of the goblin - as soon as the last sound of the uttered curse has died down. The goblin takes the child promised to him into the forest immediately after birth, placing in its place a “forest child” - sick and restless. If, by some miracle, the sworn child manages to be baptized earlier, so that it is impossible to take him right away, then the goblin waits until seven years of adolescence and then lures him into the forest (the goblin is given one minute a day when he can lure a person).In the forest, the damned do not live long and soon die. And if it happens that one of them, through the intense prayers of his mother, survives, then he is found in the most pitiful form: he walks wild, does not remember what happened to him, and remains completely indifferent to everything that may await him when living together with people.Village rumors very persistently attribute to goblin a passion for women and often accuse them of kidnapping girls. They are credited with wives of the same breed as themselves (leshachikha, lesukha) and cubs (leshenya). In ancient times, at the beginning of summer, shepherds made an agreement with the goblin: do not suck milk from cows, do not drive cattle into swamps, etc. If the agreement was violated, they wrote a complaint against the offender on a wide board and hung it from a hollow tree in the thicket - let Grandfather Lesovik will figure it out.