Myth and folktales

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the world, stopping at farms and asking for food. But whatever he ate he was 
never full. His arrival either announced hunger or eliminated it. When given 
plenty of food without expecting any payment in return, he generally caused no 
harm and even restored prosperity. But woe to those who unwittingly cursed 
him, gave him no food, or even bragged about their prosperity! On the very same 
day, the master of the house died of hunger while his family was stricken with 
poverty and famine.
Since the Netek took over the position of Šentjanž in the home people believed 
that “wherever the Netek is under the table people get up from the table still hungry”. 
According to a tale from Koroška, the words “Thank you, Lord and Šentjanž, I have 
finally eaten my fill today!” drove the Netek away. He fell from the ceiling in the form 
of a well-fed pig, and took off through the door (Kelemina 1930: 54, no. 9). The Netek 
seems to be the negative pole of Šentjanž, or Kresnik, hence his dual nature that may 
cause hunger or bring prosperity.
Jakob Kelemina (1930: 12) and Josip Mal (1940: 22) suggested that the etymol-
ogy and the allegorical meaning of the Netek come from the verb ‘netiti’ (to fuel), 
which characterizes him as a stoker and therefore a fiery, chthonic being, a good 
spirit protecting the domestic hearth. This perception was challenged by Ivan 
Grafenauer in his extensive treatise in which he also compares the Netek with other 
mythical creatures, especially with the Plague. Grafenauer (1958) noted that the 
Netek shares many characteristics with the Plague and with Death, particularly 
with the Smrtnik that is presented in some stories as the companion of the plague. 
He is also related to the glutton from a tale from Vorarlberg titled “The Glutton 
and the Plague.”
The negative nature of the Netek as the bearer of famine and death is evi-
dent in, among other things, in the name netečje for cranberries that was used in 
Štajerska. The connection of this plant with the devil, or the krut, is also obvious 
in Koroška, where the cranberry was also referred to as the devil’s plant or krut’s 
plant. The Netek was equated with the devil (hudič) also in the vicinity of Celje, 
where people said that those who used bad words are netek-ing or hudič-ing
169
 
(Grafenauer 1958).
It seems, however, that Netek was not an entirely negative being that brought 
only famine and death. He could also put the end to hunger or, if well fed and regaled, 
leave the farm without causing any harm. His role was therefore more corrective in 
that he rewarded hospitality and punished haughtiness and stinginess. 
169 
“Netekujejo ali hudičujejo”.

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210
WitChes and WiZards
With the help of rituals, spells, charms and other magical ceremonies people 
hoped to influence nature, humans, animals and climatic phenomena around them. 
The ancient Egyptians and Greeks had a collection of mythical scriptures used by 
the Egyptian priests of the god Thoth. The Greeks called these books “Hermetical 
Scriptures”. Their name originated from the Greek god Hermes who was, among 
other things, the protector of magic.
Interest in the Greek magical scriptures was reawakened during the Italian 
Renaissance when, in the 15
th
 century, Marsillio Ficino translated the Greek 
manuscript by Hermes Trismegistos (thrice-great Hermes) into Latin as “Corpus 
Hermeticum”.
Medieval persecution of witches and wizards erupted throughout Europe with 
numerous legal processes, largely the result of Pope Innocent VIII’s declaration in 
1484 that legalised such persecution and accused wizards of being connected to evil 
spirits and the devil.
In some folktales and fairy tales, we can detect not only remnants of these 
processes, but also initiation rituals for people accepted into a secret cult. The Greek 
goddess Artemis or the Roman Diana were connected to magic cults. Later, these 
cults were linked to notions of the goddess of fertility and the leader of the wild hunt 
– like the Germanic Holda or the Slavic Jaga or Slovenian Pehtra Baba.
170
According to some older sources, wizards and witches in Slovenian tradition 
were mythological and demonic creatures just like kresnik, vedomec, lamia, mokoš, 
etc.; different sources, however, maintain that ordinary people could learn witchcraft 
as a trade. According to the data from Slovenian folk tradition, we may summarize 
that magic was performed mainly sympathetically, on the analogy, by the rule “pars 
pro toto”, with the help of apotropaic acts. They used water, medicinal herbs, potions 
and ointments. Witches and wizards used various objects like a wand, bell, horn, 
whistle or other musical instrument, and sometimes a mirror to perform their magic.
Sorcerers mastered spells and charms, and knew how to conjure and adjure, 
helping themselves with books on black magic
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 and with various magic objects, 
sometimes considered as the seat of the helping spirit, such as sticks, goat horns, 
bells, etc.
Slovenian oral tradition has preserved the memory of some famous wizards, for 
example the wizard Vidovin, the magic marksman Lampret, the magician Jernik (a 
170 
Folktales about this see in: Kropej & Šmitek & Dapit 2010: 109–129. 
171 
Popular books on black magic in Slovenia were: “Kolomonov žegen”, “Duhova bramba”, “Hišni 
žegen”; for more about this see: Grafenauer 1907; Grafenauer 1943a.

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hunter and shepherd from Jezersko), the healer of blindness Belin, the warlock Kržanič 
from the village of Gančani in Prekmurje, and the sorcerer Tkavc from Medvedove 
Peči in Koroška (Kelemina 1930: no. 24, 25). Magic was usually attributed to people 
with red hair, and to pharmacists, priests and hermits. Wizard traditions have 
preserved more shamanistic elements which seem to have descended from the folk 
beliefs regarding kresniks. The shamans or kresniks were usually key personalities 
in a given society. Slovenian traditions, for instance, mention Kresnik, the protector 
of a clan, whom God has given to mankind in order to protect humanity against the 
dragon which threatened its existence. 
Kresnik is known in Slovenian mythology as a mythical hero connected with 
the sun. In Slovenian folklore a kresnik can also be a shaman who fights witches and 
vedomci to provide a healthy crop for his community (Šmitek 1998). These fights 
between witches and kresniks, also known as balavantari in Slavia Veneta/Venetian 
Slovenia, occurred most often on the midsummer night or during the Christmas 
season. According to stories and beliefs, kresniks were said to have been born with a 
The witches, Maksim Gaspari, 1949

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