Myth and folktales

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Slovenian lore as a seer; as the sister of Kralj 
Matjaž (King Matthias) or of King Salomon. 
As an enormous woman standing with one 
foot in Hell and the other on Earth, and 
a tempestuous being, she leaves traces on 
rocks and footpaths. In Ancient Greece, the 
term sybilla indicated women who foretold 
future events when in rapture. 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. Corroborated 
by 15
th
-century art, this number corresponds 
to the number of prophets in the Old Testa-
ment. The thirteenth Sybil was included in 
literary folklore as Makeda (or Maqueda), the 
Queen of Sheba. In 14
th
-century Germany, the 
most important sybil was the Tiburtine Sybil 
who was depicted in the period of Charles IV 
(1316-1378) in a German poem, known as the 
poem of the thirteenth Sybil, whose many 
variants were widely known. In the second 
half of the 19
th
 century, it spread throughout 
the monarchy and was known in the territory 
of present-day Slovenia as the Books of the 
Prophet Sybil (Bukle Švile Prerokile), writ-
ten in 1892 by Lapusch from Koroška. There 
are many different stories about Sybil. One 
of them recounts how Šimbilja tricked her 
brother King Matthias so that she could be 
the first to drink from the fountain of wisdom 
and become omniscient. In 19
th
 century lore, 
Šembilja was mentioned as King Salomon’s 
sister who was much wiser than the king him-
self. The people of Karst told stories of how 
Šembilja taught blacksmiths to forge iron.
Lit.: U. Jarnik: 
Die slovenischen Sibyllen. Koroška 1813; H. 
Lausegger: Švile Prerokile. Celovec 1985; Katja Hrobat: 
Šembilja na rimskih cestah. O mitološkem prežitku in 
arheološkem indikatorju na Krasu in v Brkinih (Šembilja 
on the Roads of Rome: Mythological Remains and 
Archaeological Indicators in the Karst and in Brkini). 
Annales 15/2, 2005.
Šembilja, see Sybil
Šent, see Wolf-Shepherd, devil
Šentjánževec, see Kresnik
Šentjurij, see Zeleni Jurij, Wolf-Shepherd
Šetek, see goblin
Škarifič, see goblin
Škopnik,  škopnjak,  škopnjek,  škopnek, 
škompnik, zmin. A supernatural being that 
appears in the form of a burning sheaf; straw; 
a birch tree broom flying through the sky; a 
burning bird; a radiant being; a small man 
with bristling hairs; or a burning man who 
flies through the air, usually at night, and 
scorches fir trees and roofs by sitting on 
them. It was believed that a person died 
wherever the škopnik fell on the ground, or 
that spot would be afflicted with hail. The 
škopnik could also smother children in their 
sleep. He would sit on them and peck at 
them, or replace them with changelings. If 
somebody pointed at škopnik behind its back 
that person’s arm would wither. The tradition 
about the škopnik merged with the lore about 
the goblin, and according to some stories the 
former would even bring riches to people. He 
was popularly depicted as a comet’s tail, or 
as a shooting star from the nest of škopnjek. 
Matičetov emphasized the astral nature of 
this mythical being that could be equated 
with a meteor. Nests of the škopniki were 
believed to be points that scattered shooting 
stars called the radiants by astronomers. The 
škopnik was also believed to be represented 
by the so-called St. Elmo’s fire (Eražmov 
ogenj), sparks that can be observed during 
thunderstorms; the Alpine Germans call 
them the Perchtenfeuer. 
Lit.: V. Geramb: 
Der “glühende Schab”. Blätter für Hei-
matkunde 2, Graz,1924; M. Matičetov: 
Koroško zvezdno 
ime “Škopnjekovo gnezdo” (“The Nest of the Škopnjek”, 
a Koroškan Term for a Star Constellation). Traditiones 
1, 1972.
Škrábec, see goblin

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241
Škrat, see goblin
Škretle, see dwarf
Šotek, see dwarf
Špiritavi, see ghost
Štorka, see Torka
Štriga, see witch
Šuštar, see Ahasuerus
Taltoš, see Kresnik
Tantava, tanta, tantasmota in Friuli, temp-
tation. A supernatural being from western 
Slovenia and from Slavia Veneta who, in 
the form of an apparition or as temptation, 
entices people so that they no longer know 
their whereabouts. It may also appear as a 
malicious creature tormenting people.
Taterman, tatrman. 1) a water sprite (in 
Slavia Veneta); 2) a stream. In Koroška, also 
a term for the upper side of an elaborate 
fountain spout in the form of a human head.
Teleba, a terrifying supernatural being ap-
pearing in vineyards in the villages beneath 
Bohor in Dolenjska. The Teleba lurks after 
grape thieves. Children believed that the 
Teleba could pull them with its long arms 
in the middle of the vineyard and suck their 
blood or devour them.
Lit.: I. Rožman: 
Teleba – bajeslovno bitje iz vasi pod Bo-
horjem (Teleba – A Mythical Creature from the Villages 
beneath Bohor). Traditiones 24, 1995.
Tenth brother, see desetnik
Tenth sister, see desetnica
Thunderstorm (huda ura), see time
Time (čas). A mythical representation of time 
(Chronos) in the form of shadow, wild man 
(the dujak), young boy, twelve men (twelve 
months), etc. It appears most frequently in 
connection with the prohibition of perform-
ing women’s chores, for example when a 
woman, still spinning at midnight, hears a 
voice telling her to “Go to bed for yours is 
the day and mine is the night!”. While the 
godovčičaci, and the dujak were personifica-
tions of time primarily in Resia in Italy, else-
where time was personified in the form of the 
men presenting months, seasons, and days. 
See also: Torka (Tuesday), Petka (Friday), and 
the Sabida (Saturday). 
Lit.: M. Matičetov: 
Un essere mitico dalla Val Resia. 
Ethnologia Slavica VII, Bratislava 1975; M. Matičetov: 
G
odovčíčaci. Zur Deutung slowenischer Varianten vom 
Typ 480. Dona Ethnologica. Beiträge zur vergleichenden 
Volkskunde, Leopold Kretzenbacher zum 60. Geburtstag, 
München 1973; M. Kropej, 
Slovene Midwinter Deities 
and Personifications of Days in the Yearly, Work and Life 
Cycles. In: Mirjam Mencej (Ed), Space and Time in Europe: 
East and West, Past and Present. Ljubljana 2008. 
Toplek, see wind
Torek, see torka
Torka (Tuesday woman), tvorka, torek, orkla, 
štorklja, glodež. Like other mid-winter deities 
and personifications of the days, that have 
been named after days of the week, like Četrtka 
(Thursday woman), this mythical being en-
forces the ban on spinning and on other female 
chores on late Tuesday nights. Had the ban not 
been observed, the torka would have appeared 
at the door in the form of a white woman who 
could stretch to the ceiling; turn off lights; 
make the spinning wheels start by themselves 
and spin until morning; leave the yarn ripped 
to pieces or knotted up; and break the spinning 
wheels. The yarn had to be taken off the spin-
ning wheel in the evening and a cross had to 
be made over it. If not, the torka would come 
to spin at night, run the spinning wheel by 
her hand transformed in dog paw, and terrify 

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