Myth and folktales

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no taller than a blade of grass but in the forest it can be taller than a tree. It 
usually hides from people behind tree trunks. It shows its simple side to the 
people that it addresses, but also its malevolence. It often scares travellers 
and woodcutters or makes noises that cause people to lose their way and get 
caught by the darkness. Then it takes them to its cave where it tortures them 
until they succumb.
It appears on cliff tops whenever it pleases and sometimes on damp ground in 
the forest where it explores water springs. In places where čatež lived, people 
often found springs with excellent drinking water. It has also been known to 
give shepherds tree branches or switches as gifts to help them control their 
animals. But if somebody enrages it and confronts it, it will take revenge. It can 
roll stones down a hill that could destroy a farmer’s house (Mailly, Matičetov 
1989: 77–78; Kropej, Šmitek, Dapit 2010: 83–84). 
A literary version of the Čatež legend was published by Lojze Zupanc
131
 and later 
also by David Vasiljevič (2006).
131 
Zupanc 1994: 68.
Čatež, Andrejka Čufer (Kropej, Dapit 2002)

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175
orko
The orko is a supernatural being of a wild nature who frightens people in forests 
and in alpine, and solitary places. It was also named orkul, orkljič and ospel. In the 
Karst and mainly in the vicinity of Sežana, people told stories that the orko is the 
ghost of a dead man, who cannot rest in peace. In the Resian village of Stolbica/
Stolvizza, the orko is known as a small man called lorgo while the people of Bila/San 
Giorgio call him largo borgo.
lorgo, largo Borgo is afraid of the knife
Lorgo (Stolvizza) or largo borgo (San Giorgio) likes to tease people and close 
their roads, but he is shy and they say that he is especially afraid of the knife 
(Matičetov 1968: 225).
In Friuli and Venezia Giulia, people believe that the orkul quenches his thirst 
in the river Soča by stepping on Sveta Gora (Holy Mountain) with one foot and on 
Mount Sabotin with the other. The lore from Valli del Natisone is quite similar. 
People in Karst call largo borgo the orko, in Solkan he is known as the orkljič, and 
the inhabitants near Ilirska Bistrica call him vuorek or podlegaj. He was said to take 
the form of a donkey. If a man would sit on him, he would grow high into the stars 
and throw the man from high up and also catch him so that the man would not be 
hurt. If a person had rein or a rope with him, he could tame the poglegaj, as in the 
tale from Slovenjska Bistrica.
132
 
The name orko is derived from the Latin world Orcu(m), meaning either “the 
place of the dead” or “the deity of the dead.” European folk tradition presents it as 
an evil monster that eats people. The orko appears as demonic creature in Croatian 
folklore.
133
 The ork is known also in the Germanic, Romanic and Scandinavian folk 
traditions. The orko could lure the traveller into unknown places, where he is left to 
wander about until he eventually founds himself exactly where he began the previous 
day. It is able to change its appearance and to scare people. Once it goes away, it can 
leave a smelly trace behind. Assuming the form of a small ball, the orco positions him-
self on the footpath, and as soon as a traveller steps across it, the ball instantly grows 
to the sky. This scares the man so hard that he falls to the ground, unconscious.
134
 
132 
Josip Potepan Škerljev, Arkiv za poviestnicu jugoslovensku 11 (1872); Kropej, Dapit 2002: 41, no. 24.
133 
More about this see: Lozica 1995; Lozica 2011.
134 
This folktale was told by Cirilla Madotto Prešćina in Coritis in Val Resia, recorded by Roberto 
Dapit in 1994, and published: Kropej, Šmitek, Dapit 2010: 84–86.

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176
ŠkoPnik
An important part in the Slovenian tradition is the celestial supernatural being 
škópnik, also named škópnjak, škópnek, škópnjenk, škómpnik, škómpnjek or zmin. It 
appears in the form of a burning sheaf (straw) or a birch tree broom flying through 
the sky, which people in Štajerska call the zmin (Pajek 1884: 228). According to other 
traditions, the škopnik flies through the sky in the shape of a burning bird, a radiant 
being, a small man with bristling hairs, or a burning man. The škopnik was believed to 
fly in the sky mainly in the middle of the night, and to sit on top of spruce trees, thus 
scorching them. If the škopnik were to sit on top of a house or the heart, it would not 
mean something good, and would probably bring bad luck. In Rosental in Koroška, 
people believed that a person died on the place where the škopnik fell on the ground, 
or that that spot would be afflicted with hail (Šašel, Ramovš 1936-1937: 9–10, no.8). 
The tradition about him has merged with the tradition about a dwarf. In this 
way, the škopnik is said to bring riches and luck as well.
The first to mention the škopnik was Urban Jarnik in 1812, in a poem to honour 
the bonfire on the Midsummer Day. Radoslav Razlag equated him with a meteor. 
Škopnik was popularly depicted as a comet’s tail, or as a shooting star from the nest 
of škopnjek, as for example also in Rute/
Ruttach
 above Bistrica near Pliberk. In west 
Štajerska, they called the shooting star zmínje leti (the zmin is flying).
The common belief among people was that the shooting stars are souls that have 
passed to the other world or predict the death of a certain man. 
The škopnik was also believed to be represented by the so-called St. Elmo’s fire, 
sparks that can be observed during thunderstorms. The Alpine Germans call them 
the Perchtenfeuer (Geramb 1924, Kretzenbacher 1914). 
Jakob Kelemina believed that the škopnik is one of the ozins who make one’s 
breathing difficult, they suffocate him and bring death (Kelemina 1930: 16). Milko 
Matičetov also emphasized the astral nature of this mythical being that could be 
equated with a meteor, as had been noted by Radoslav Razlag. Nests of the škopniki 
were believed to be points on the sky, from which were scattered shooting stars called 
the radiants by astronomers (Matičetov 1972).

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