Myth and folktales

153
Slavic people believed in the Moirae blended with the notions of Old Slavic deities 
of birth and fate, named Rod and Roždenicy.
99
 
In Slovenian folklore, the lore about the Fates frequently became contaminated 
with the lore about other female supernatural beings such as fairies and Sybils and 
with their prophecies. 
ŠeMBilja (syBil)
The name Šembilja is Slovenian variant of the word Sibila (Sybil), used in Ancient 
Greece to indicate a woman who foretold future events when enraptured. Originally, 
there was merely one Sybil but in the Middle Ages, when interest in prophecies about 
one’s future increased, the sources indicate that there were as many as twelve (this 
number corresponds to the number of prophets in the Old Testament), as can be 
seen in visual art as well. The thirteenth Sybil was included in literary folklore as 
Makeda (or Maqueda), the Queen of Sheba. Different versions of Sybil’s books spread 
throughout the Austro-German part of the monarchy and came in Slovenia as well, 
starting with the Bukle Sibile Prerokile, transcribed in 1892 by M. Lapusch from 
Koroška. From there they spread all over Slovenia.
Urban Jarnik also wrote about the Koroškan folk tradition about šembilje in 1813 
in an article in which he reports on the Slovenian Sybils (Jarnik 1813). Matija Majar 
was the next to write about them (Majar 1847). Simon Rutar gathered important 
material about šembilje in Primorska in 1895 (Rutar 1895: 5), and Matevž Ravnikar-
Poženčan wrote about them in Gorenjska. 
In 19
th
 century folktales, Šembilja was mentioned as King Solomon’s sister who 
was much wiser than the king himself.
100
 
Matija Majar published a tale in Kolo about the Virgin Mary, who is told by 
Šembilja that she will give birth to the Saviour (Majar 1847: 16–18). 
Twenty years later, Anton Pegan noted a similar tale in Tolminsko. In this version 
of the story, Šembilja recognized the Virgin Mary after dreaming about a log, which 
swam in the middle of the water, but is suddenly turned around in such a way that 
it created a footbridge across the water (Pegan/Černigoj 2007: 161). 
In Štanjel, people recounted a version of the story in which Šembilja tricks her 
brother, king Matthias (Kralj Matjaž) and becomes wise instead of him.
99 
Grafenauer 1952: 68–70; Grafenauer 1945: 50.
100 
Novice 16, no. 31, 1858: 245–246.

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154
Šembilja tricks her Brother king Matthias to Become omniscient
King Matthias always asked God to make him omniscient. One day, God tells 
him that there is a spring of omniscience on top of the mountain and whoever 
is the first one to drink out of it on the first Friday after New Year’s Day will 
become the wisest person alive. This happened only once in a decade and the 
following day was this very exact day. King Matthias told this to his sister 
Šembilja, who asked if she could go with him. And so they went, and once 
they were already near the spring they rested and king Matthias fell asleep, 
while Šemiblja got up, drank the water and became omniscient. When King 
Matthias woke up, he got up and drank the water, but since he was not wiser 
than before, he thought that God had made a fool out of him. Thus, King 
Matthias became angry and declared war against him.
101
 
The people of Primorska and Karst told stories of how Šimbilja taught black-
smiths to forge iron. A similar folktale was recorded by Matija Majar Ziljski from 
Koroška and published it in Kolo in 1847, with the white woman as its protagonist, 
but it has the features typical for tales about šembilija (Majar 1847: 15). 
Šembilija in a racing Wagon
People also often tell stories about a šembilija racing in a fiery wagon on a 
cart track or on a night sky or through nature, making terrible noise. 
It is interesting how people’s imagination started to make associations between 
the šembilja’s fiery racing wagon and the tracks of the wheels or with cart tracks in the 
stony Roman roads. In Karst, people have rich tradition about supernatural beings, 
šembilje, and the tracks of the wheels, or their wagon, in the stones. 
The Wagon with no yoke
There were terrible wagons with no yokes. When they appeared, a terrible 
breeze started to blow. All the horse and cart drivers were afraid of it, since 
they knew these were the souls from purgatory. They say that they can still see 
the cart tracks the šembilje made near the Zavrhkov cemetery.
There are many more tales such as this, which were described in detail by Katja 
Hrobat (Hrobat 2005: 267–268). The pounding and the thunder that was made by 
them was also explained as coming from witches, the devil and the souls lost in 
purgatory. All of these connections match the description about the wild hunt and 
101 
Manuscript of Anton Pegan, Archive ISN ZRC SAZU: ŠZ 8/58; published Pegan/Černigoj 2007: 
158–159.

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155
Pehtra’s Wild Hunt. In these stories, šembilja took the role of the Pehtra Baba or the 
Wild Hunt.
People saw many similarities between the tales about St. Elijah and the šembilja 
racing in the night sky, because 
the 
Slavic
 
god
 
Perun
 
was
 
substituted
 
with the
 
Christian 
St
.
 
Elijah
. Elijah races in the sky in a fiery wagon, which reminds of Perun’s lightning 
and thunder. Zmago Šmitek wrote about such similarities (Šmitek 1998: 89–137), 
which were also considered by Katja Hrobat (Hrobat 2005: 269–270). The wild race 
with a wagon or sleigh through nature, remote paths and cart tracks, and rushing 
through the night sky so fast that we can see lightning and thunder, is very similar 
to the Wild Hunt. However, it would be still difficult to prove that Šembilja took over 
the role of Perun or St. Elijah. 
Water fairies and MerMaids
People believed that the mermaids (morske deklice) also helped them work in 
the fields; they weeded wheat, helped with harvest, and did other work, just like 
fairies did. As was told in Štajerska, people set food for them in wicker baskets, to 
repay them. The water fairies were (such as all other fairy beings) also seers, and 
the same as did the fairies in folk narratives, they sometimes also married a farmer. 
They also had children, whom they killed at birth if they predicted that nothing 
good will come out of them. With their advice and work, they bring prosperity 
to the household, like in the tale “The Mermaid Chooses Her Husband” (Pajek 
1884: 248–249; Kelemin 1930: 137). A young man who is pulled under the water 
by the mermaids in order to make him her companion will always remain young 
(Trstenjak 1859: 5–6). 
THE SINGING AND DANCING MERMAIDS
Josip Pajek (1884) cited Radoslav Razlag: in Štajerska, people name fairies the 
“white women”, “white girls”, “mermaids”. In 1789, there still lived people who 
claimed that the white women really do exist. They never saw them, but they heard 
them sing very beautiful. They were good to kind people and young men and shared 
advice about work.
As can be seen in this paragraph, the Slovenian folk tradition also mentions one 
of the characteristic of the mermaids: they sang beautifully. Other records affirm 

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