Myth and folktales

177
Wind and thunderstorM
As people imagined time as personified being, the wind also had an anthropo-
morphic form. Janez Majciger wrote extensively about the folk tradition about the 
winds in his article “Air and its powers in the imagination and folk narratives of 
Štajerska Slovenians”, published in 1884 in the journal Kres. Jakob Kelemina also 
presented a great deal of material about the winds (Kelemina 1930: 247–250, no. 
183–185), while Milko Matičetov wrote about the wind in terms of its role in the 
Slovenian mythology and storytelling, especially in the folk tradition of Koroška 
(Matičetov 1965: 1211–1214). 
Among other natural powers and natural elements, people in Resia also personi-
fied the thunderstorm. They called it hüda ura (thunderstorm) and imagined it as 
being an old woman with a beard and basket. People ran into her in the mountains, 
especially when a storm was approaching (Matičetov 1968: 225). 
In the folk tradition, the wind in the form of an old woman rules over indi-
vidual winds and whirls and lets the winds out of a hole. The wind can punish 
people, but it can also help, as in the 
folktale ATU 480 “The Kind and the 
Unkind Girl” from Primorska,
135
 in 
which the stepdaughter, who is sent by 
the stepmother to get her some straw-
berries in the middle of the winter, is 
brought a basket full of ripe strawber-
ries by the winds. 
The people of Vipavsko imagined 
the wind as old, grey, raggedy and 
scratched man. In Karst and in Goriško, 
people told stories that the old woman 
lets the winds out of a hole every time 
she becomes enraged (Pegan/Černigoj 
2007: 146–148). 
In Bela Krajina, people believed 
that every time a storm broke out, some 
sort of a giant or hulk was howling. 
Above Čemšenik, people believed that 
the vetrnik (whirlwind) emerges from 
holes with the same name.
135 
Pegan/Černigoj 2007: 91–96. 
The Wind, Gvidon Birolla (Möderndorfer 1957)

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178
In Gorizia it was believed that the Veternik (from veter, the wind) is a human, 
born at a certain time, lifted in the air by gale and transported around the under-
ground; sometimes he never returns.
In Brežice in Dolenjska, the southern wind allegedly comes from Turkey and 
the northern one from the North Pole (it comes shortly before midnight and is born 
in the eternal snow and ice) from where it drags its mother, the winter. Although 
brothers, the winds quarrel so fiercely that St. Elias has to occasionally intervene 
(Majciger 1884). 
Just like some other supernatural beings of nature, atmosphere and time, vari-
ous personifications of the winds are protagonists in different fairy tales, as in the 
Slovenian folktale Vetrovi se prepirajo (The Winds are Quarreling)
136
. 
According to the religious beliefs of the South Slavs, the winds were also often 
personified and sometimes assumed a form similar to that of a dragon. They are often 
also evil as those present in Slovenian tradition, since they can also cause diseases 
(for further read see Petrović 2004). 
136 
Brenk 1967: 87–88.

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179
DEMONS AND BEWITCHED SOULS
Many supernatural beings in the Slovenian folk tradition are associated with 
beliefs in the returning dead, spirits, souls, demons and afterlife, which are often 
the result of the fear of dead ancestors and returning souls. Such lore contains many 
stories about vampires, werewolves, ghosts or lights and frightening apparitions that 
have to serve their sentence. Their origin partly evolved from the belief in cursed 
souls and from animist beliefs. 
St Anthony’s piglet in the hell, Zvonko Čoh (Dapit, Kropej 2004)

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180
The so-called “impure dead”, who after their death cannot find peace, have to 
serve a sentence and wait for redemption that will often come only on Judgment Day. 
Among them are demonic beings and vampires who are returning to this world and 
suck people’s blood, endanger their lives, or frighten them in many different ways. 
Usually talking, moaning, or even killing, these beings generally appear in places 
they were familiar with in this world. Some of the spirits return to this world to bring 
a certain person to the other world. Some of them were immortalized in literature, for 
example in Lenore or “The Dead Bridegroom Carries off His Bride” (ATU 365) and 
in Don Juan or “The Offended Skull” (ATU 470A), and in folktale type “Friends in 
Life and Death” (ATU 470). Others return to the world of the living with good inten-
tions, to visit a beloved person, fulfil a promise, or make peace with their enemies.
Among the demonic beings there is Death, as well as those which personify 
diseases and pests as well as various monsters, for example cynocephals, werewolves, 
and vedomci.
Other important beings appear as horrible apparitions and spirits, intended 
primarily to educate children or to protect them from numerous risks. Many of the 
latter have been preserved to this day. Since new funks and spirits are created even 
today, all of them cannot be included in this study. These beings are based also on old 
beliefs and social institutions. Among them are the following: berbera, brbuč, bauc, 
sumper, telebaba, tantava, witch, zlati škorenjci (golden boots), and krvavo stegno 
(bloody thigh); various spirits and apparitions; ghosts or funks in animal form such 
as the mules from the folk tradition of Slavia Veneta, the Grdina from Resia, Marant 
the dog, and others.
Among the frightening apparitions that haunt people are the spirits that often 
appear at night, at midnight, and especially in the hour between midnight and one 
in the morning. They haunt lonely places and cursed houses and castles. Such scary 
spirits are disembodied but may also assume human form, particularly in the like-
ness of a deceased person.
Slovenian popular tradition also abounds in devils and, to a lesser extent, angels. 
However, as supernatural beings that embody angels generally feature in folk legends, 
they will not be discussed here. Also devils occasionally appear in legends, and are 
more frequent in explanatory, or etiological, tales. In the mythical world, devils are 
usually associated with motifs that are otherwise the prerogative of other beings of 
mostly negative nature. In Slovenian belief tales, with the advent of Christianity the 
devil started to take over the role of some pagan supernatural beings, particularly 
those of chthonic character or those that had a frightening appearance or behaviour. 
As has already been discussed, the devil frequently replaced dwarves, the wild man, 
the wild hunter and the wolf shepherd, the dragon, the škopnik, the vedomec, even 
the Water Sprite and the giants, and also certain gods, such as Veles and Triglav. 

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