Myth and folktales

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and be well fed. If he is content and not hungry, he will bring as much money to his 
master as his master needs. But if the master loses Blagonič’s favour, then the house-
hold will no longer enjoy good fortune. 
It so happened that the master of a household cooked beans for Blagonič, but 
undercooked them so they were hard; meanwhile he prepared sausages for himself. 
Blagonič became very angry. He went into the barn and hung the best ox on the 
door by its tail. Blagonič started running around the house yelling, “Beans hard; ox 
hanging by its tail.” There was never any good fortune at that house.
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This folktale is connected with the folk belief about the dragon hatched out of 
the rooster’s egg. 
The person who succeeded in getting the goblin work for him put a gold coin 
on the window. The goblin took the gold coin, returned and poured an entire bag 
of coins in the room. The same trick was sometimes used in a wrong way; for 
example, if the coin was replaced by a thorn, a stone, a dead cat, etc. the goblin 
would pour the same object in the house and cause its master damage. In a folktale 
from Štajerska, a goblin came in the form of a bright beam of light flying through 
the night sky.
GOBLIN (ŠKRATEC) BRINGS MONEY
Sometimes there is something bright flying through the air, just slightly above 
the trees, something similar to a fiery broom. At a crossroads, a man can (by 
saying certain prayers) make the škratec work for him. To repay for his work, 
he must promise his soul, his wife or child, and has to sign the contract with 
his own blood. The goblin brings to the house an abundance of the thing 
which was set for him on the window. People must also leave millet porridge 
for him, for he likes it the most.
One day, a farmer promised to give škratec the mother with children. 
Diligently, goblin brought the money. Every year, the farmer’s neighbour 
saw that something bright came through his chimney. Once he also saw 
a goose that brought a little bag, full of money and put it next to the 
farmer’s bed.
One day, the jealous neighbour saw that the farmer put a silver coin on the 
window. He quickly put it in his pocket, and put a dead cat on the window. The 
goblin spent the whole night killing cats and brought so many to the farmer, 
that he was barely able to bury them when the morning came.
127 
Manuscript of Lovro Žvab, Archive ISN ZRC SAZU: ŠZ 7/216. Published: Kropej, Šmitek, Dapit 
2010: 76–77.

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When the time has come the goblin demanded his payment: the mother with 
her children. But the cunning farmer gave him a hen with chickens. The 
frustrated goblin took them and flew away.
When the farmer was dying, the goblin demanded to have his soul and the 
priest was barely able to chase the goblin away (Pajek 1884: 228; Kropej, 
Dapit 2002: 29–30). 
The goblin flying through the air in the form of a fiery broom is reminiscent of 
a supernatural being: the škropnik. While bringing money to the master, it is closer 
to the stories about sorcerers and sorceresses and their assistants, which are usually 
the devils or the tamed spirits. 
According to some folk narratives, the housekeepers were believed to have a 
goblin or a devil kept in a glass jar, a box or in a glass bell. They would set it free 
only when they wanted it to do something for them, as in a tale “A Goblin in a Jar”, 
which also mentions how the goblin was, after escaping from captivity, afraid that 
the housekeeper would catch him again.
128
 A similar folktale about a goblin who 
brings good luck was told to Tone Cevc in Velika Planina in 1970 (Cevc 1993: 84). 
dWarf
A supernatural being similar to a goblin but with a more pleasant disposi-
tions is a dwarf, named palček, palečnjak, ninek, nendljek, malik. Contrary to 
the generally unkind sprites, dwarfs have a milder disposition and often help 
people with their chores, especially with sewing their clothes and making their 
shoes and finding and handling precious stones and metal. The dwarfs are often 
protagonists in folktales, for example in the folktale types: ATU 327B “The Dwarf 
and the Giant”, ATU 700 “Thumbling” and ATU 709 “Snow white and the Seven 
Dwarfs”. 
Folk prophecies predict that in the future, people will be no taller than our 
thumb, while our ancestors were said to be the giants, who had their thumbs as big 
as is our body. 
128 
Recorded by Milko Matičetov in Velike Češnjice pri Šentvidu pri Stični in 1950. Published: Kropej, 
Šmitrk, Dapit 2010: 73–76.

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kahnih
Very similar to the house goblin was kanih, who was said to be as short as a boy, 
but an extremely strong man. Living close to human dwellings, he was believed to 
come to people’s houses to brew unusual potions on the hearth. He persuaded people 
to perform good deeds but would punish them if they irritated him. According to the 
lore of Solčava in Savinjske Alpe, the kanih, whose pants had been ripped by a bear, 
still sits on a ridge and sews the pants with a thread that has been twice wrapped 
around the house (Kocberk 1926: 268, no. 85; Kropej. Šmitek, Dapit 2010: 81–82).
The kanih is also mentioned in one of the oldest Slovenian charms against 
sprains from Gabrje near Gorizia (Š I: 5171), according to which the kanih was the 
son of St. Blaise. 
ČateŽ
Čatež is a supernatural being in human form above the waist and as a male goat 
below it, with horns and beard on its head. Čatež posed a threat to the travellers and 
foresters whom he lured to remote places by imitating familiar voices and filling them 
with panic (just like the deity Pan). According to the tradition from east and west 
Slovenia, Čatež lives in mountains, forests, and marshy areas. Similarly to the orko, 
he is able to alter his size. Among other things, people described how he rolls the 
stones from the mountains, steals grapes and gets drunk. Sources of drinking water 
were discovered in places where he was believed to linger. Folk belief about Čatež was 
first recorded by Davorin Trstenjak
129
 and Josip Pajek
130
 in Štajerska. 
Anton von Mailly recorded in Slavia Veneta this folktale and published it in 1922
Čatež
Among the Slavs that populate the region of Primorska, especially around 
the Soča Valley, Ajdovščina, Buzet, Čepić and elsewhere, there lives, hidden 
among trees, a whimsical forest being, similar to a satyr – the Čatež. It is 
half man and half goat, resembling goat from the waist down. It has horns, 
long ears and beard and can change its size as it pleases; in a meadow it is 
129 
Davorin Trstenjak, Mythologične drobtine 16: O Čatežu. Slovenski glasnik 3, 1859, 189.
130 
Josip Pajek, Črtice iz dušvnega žitka štaj. Slovencev. Ljubljana 1884, 32. Compare also: P. L. Hrovat, 
Paberki staroslovenski, no. 20. Dom in svet 5, 1892, 377; Kelemina 1930: 174–175, no. 118.

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