Myth and folktales

220
ing water were discovered in places where 
it was believed to linger. Filling them with 
panic (from the deity Pan), he posed a threat 
to travellers and foresters whom he lurked to 
remote places by imitating familiar voices. 
When angry, he covered farming homes lying 
beneath hills with earth.
Lit.: A. von Mailly: Leggende del Friuli e delle Alpi Giulie. 
Edizione critica a cura di M. Matičetov, Gorizia 1989.
Četotek, see devil
Četrtka (Thursday woman), see Torka
Črnošolec, (sorcerer’s apprentice; wizard’s 
apprentice), osmošolec, grabancijaš dijak, 
trentarski študent.
 
Črnošolec is derived 
from črn (black) and šola (school, denot-
ing a school for magic), a student who was 
believed to have learned magical skills in 
school. Most often mentioned in folklore as 
snake chaser who drives away snakes after 
having lured them closer by blowing on 
a whistle. Sorcerer’s apprentices searched 
water holes for dragons that were causing 
misfortune. When thunder and lightning 
were particularly strong, people said that 
sorcerer’s apprentices were riding dragons; 
when tempests and whirlwinds occurred it 
was believed that they were driving away 
the dragons. They appeared as sows, cows, 
or horses. The name grabancijaš is derived 
from the Latin necromantes and Italian ne-
gromanzia, gramanzia. 
Lit.: V. Jagić: Die Südslavischen Volkssagen von dem 
Grabancijaš dijak und ihre Erklärung. Archiv für slavische 
Philologie 2, Berlin 1877.
Črt, see Veles, see devil
Dagana, a mythical being, a mermaid 
believed to take white or golden sheep to 
mountain pastures early in the morning (see 
mermaid).
Dahovina see duhovin
Dardaj, Dardak. In Resia in Italy, and par-
ticularly in Solbica/Stolvizza, people tell of 
the enormous Dardaj who has protected them 
from strangers trying to take possession of 
their mountain horse pasture by driving their 
horses over a rocky overhang; consequently, 
the overhang has been named Konjski Plaz 
(Horse Landslide). Dardaj was believed to have 
lived with his sister (or daughter) Lina on Sart 
Mountain. Immediately after giving birth to 
them, Lina allegedly threw their children over 
cliffs, for which she was punished (see giant).
Death,  smrt,  smrtnica,  smrtnjak. A per-
sonified death, that manifests as a tall, gaunt 
white woman with a scythe or with a basket 
on her shoulders; as a thin, pale woman clad 
in white; or as a skeleton. She was also imag-
ined as the angel of death. In Štajerska, death 
was depicted as a young girl and named, 
among other things, the tenth daughter. It 
was believed that the freezing death comes 
into houses at night to seek sparks in the 
hearth and keep warm. If no sparks were 
found she murdered the lady of the house, 
occasionally also other residents. Death 
features in numerous fairy tales and legends, 
like ATU 332 (Godfather Death) and ATU 
330 (The Smith and the Devil). There are 
many stories about the signs that foretell 
the death; and about the death beckoning 
a person to come to her side: if the person 
answers, death takes him or her away. Death 
was believed to have burning candles, which 
represented human lives, in her dwelling. 
When a person’s candle burned down death 
went to fetch him or her. Those who could 
predict death and were called the roki (terms) 
or the spomini (memories), were generally 
imagined in the form of certain animals, for 
example owls, birds, cats or dogs. 
Lit.: M. Valjavec:
 Narodne stvari: priče, navade, stare vere 
XVI. Smrt, smrtec, mrtvec, sprevod (Folk Stuff: Stories, 
Customs, Old Beliefs XVI. Death, Corpse, Procession). 
Slovenski glasnik 11, Celovec 1868; Boris Orel: 
Smrt in 
pogreb (Death and Funeral). Narodopisje Slovencev 1, 
Ljubljana 1944.

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221
Dedek, see gospodarček
Desetnica (tenth daughter). According to 
Slavic, Baltic, and Irish lore, the ninth, tenth, 
twelfth, or the thirteenth daughter is, like the 
tenth brother, 1) a supernatural being; 2) A 
tithe offered to a deity; 3) a person with super-
natural powers. In some poems, she is fetched 
by a white woman, a fairy, or the Virgin Mary. 
Upon her return to her native village after 
many years, nobody recognizes her, which 
results in disaster, either in her mother’s death 
or in a thunderstorm with conflagration. In 
the oral tradition of Pohorje, the tenth sister is 
addressed as Death while in Gorenjska, she is 
called a Fate. Taking care of birth and death, 
the tenth daughter is linked with a person’s 
fate, thus ensuring cyclical renewal. These 
were the characteristics of deities linked with 
the fertility cult, such as Hecate, Artemis, 
and Mokoš in antiquity. The lore of the tenth 
daughter is partly reminiscent of the Greek 
myth about Iphigenia. When she was about 
to be sacrificed to a goddess, Artemis replaced 
Iphigenia with a hind and took the maiden to 
Taurus as her priestess. 
Lit.: M. Kropej: 
The Tenth Child in Folk Tradition. Studia 
mythologica Slavica 3, 2000.
Desetnik (tenth brother), deseti brat, ro-
jenjak. Like the tenth daughter, the ninth, 
the tenth, the twelfth, the thirteenth, or the 
seventh child of the same sex is 1) a super-
natural being; 2) A tithe offered to a deity; 3) 
a soothsayer. In Gorenjska, such a child was 
called the rojenjak. The lore about the tenth 
brother has been preserved primarily among 
the Slavs, the Balts, and the Irish. Upon 
their analysis of Slavic and Baltic folk songs, 
Katičić and Belaj established that Zeleni Jurij 
was likewise the tenth brother. According 
to Valjavec, each tenth son was likewise a 
wolf shepherd. The lore about the tenth son 
and the tenth daughter has been preserved 
solely in connection with the tithe and with 
a person endowed with powers of divination.
Lit.: N. Kuret: 
Desetništvo v irskem izročilu (The Irish Lore 
of the Tenth Brother and Sister). Glasnik Inštituta za slov-
ensko narodopisje 1, 1956; D. Ludvik, 
Izvor desetništva 
(The Origin of the Lore of the Tenth Brother and Sister). 
Slovenski etnograf 13, 1960; V. Nartnik, 
Od lika desetega 
brata do lika hlapca Jerneja (From the Character of the 
Tenth Brother to the Character of Jernej the Farmhand), 
Zbornik Slavističnega društva Slovenije, Vrhnika 1996.
Deva, see Mokoš
Devil, vrag, hudíč, hudóba, hudóbec, zlódej, 
čótasti, četotek, brézen, brezec, zelénec, črt, bes. 
Sources cite different names for the devil, i.e. 
Beelzebub, Lucifer, Asmodeus, Meridian, and 
Zabulan. The devil from folk narratives hard-
ly resembles theological depictions of Satan or 
a fallen angel. Older depictions portray him 
as a beaked monster with wings and talons. 
Under the influence of the ancient lore about 
Pan, this image morphed into a creature with 
horns, hooves, and a tail. During the era of 
witch hunts, it was believed that the devil 
may appear in the form of any animal except 
a pigeon or a lamb, and also in anthropomor-
phic form, generally as a hunter, well-dressed 
gentleman, or a hopeful lover. The devil took 
over the role of some other mythical beings 
or demons, i.e. the giants, the wild hunter, 
the goblin, the wolf shepherd, the dragon, 
etc. The devil of folktales builds a church or 
a bridge; makes a contract involving a still 
unborn baby; exchanges a baby; writes the 
names of sinners on parchment; carries off 
a bride; shepherds dormice; grazes animals; 
dries money on a piece of canvas; brings or 
grinds money; hires himself out as an as-
sistant; and invents brandy, vine, and weed. 
Several explanatory tales describe how the 
devil created the horse, the sheep, the Devil’s 
Rock, and the Devil’s Cave. Folk songs depict 
St. Nicholas throwing the devil into the sea.
Lit.: L. Radenković: 
Predstave o đavolu u verovanjima i 
folkloru balkanskih Slovena. Zbornik Matice Srpske za 
slavistiku 53, Beograd 1997.
Divja jaga, see wild hunt 

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