Myth and folktales

203
Personified trouBles
Just as they did with the days of the week, time, thunderstorm, wind, bad 
weather, and the like, people also personified death, the plague, mrak (dusk) and 
other diseases, nightmares and different nuisances, predictors of death; hunger, and 
many other woes.
160
 Those that have been preserved almost to the present day should 
be examined more closely, because they had the most impact on human life. Death 
certainly holds the first place.
DEATH (SMRT)
In the Slovene conceptual world, Death, called Smrt or Smrtnica, was depicted 
as an old fearsome woman clad in white or as a tall, bony white woman with a scythe 
in her hand or a basket on her shoulders. Only a very few saw Death in the form of 
a skeleton. Death was also represented as an angel of death and was occasionally 
depicted as male rather than the more typical female. As a male character, Death was 
referred to as Smrtnek or Smrtec and denoted the male creature that accompanies 
Death or the Plague on their rounds.
161
 In some places, particularly in Štajersko, Death 
was depicted as a young girl, the Smrtnica; the local people used the same term for 
the Desetnica, the tenth daughter.
According to the people of Prekmurje, 
Death prefers to appear at nighttime, 
just before dawn (Kühar 1911, no. 49). 
Widespread was the belief that he 
comes into the house at night, looking 
for sparks that would provide some 
warmth. If he could not find any, he 
would murder the lady of the house 
or even the rest of the family. It was 
believed that Death calls a person, and 
if that person answers, Death takes him 
or her away.
162
 
There were numerous stories about 
Death. People were certain that Death 
160 
Compare: Röhrich 1967.
161 
More about this see: Grafenauer 1958: 182–186. 
162 
More about this see: Valjavec 1868; Kelemina 1930: no. 196.
The Death, Hinko Smrekar, 1911 (Dobida 1957)

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204
has burning candles in his residence, which are a metaphor of human life. As the 
candle burns low, Death sets off to fetch the person whose candle is about to go out 
(Kelemina 1930: 260–265). 
Death features in many fairy tales and legends, for example in the fairy tale 
“Godfather Death” (ATU 332); “The Smith and the Devil” (AaTh 330); and in “Death 
in the Basket”. As late as in the 1970s, Milko Matičetov heard in Val Resia and in Val 
Natisone two related fairy tales: the tale “About Death” and the story “Godmother 
Death”. In the latter, Death acts as the godmother to a poor man’s son. As a bap-
tismal gift, she gives the child the ability to heal the sick with her help. The story 
was told by Tina Vajtova, the famed storyteller from Stolvizza/Stolbica in Val Resia 
(Matičetov 1968). 
According to popular belief, death was announced if a rooster barked like a 
dog; if a hen crowed like a rooster; if an owl hooted; or if meowing was heard near 
the house (Orel 1944: 304). Personified messengers of death, called roki (terms) or 
spomini (memories) generally appeared in the form of an animal such as a cat, owl, 
the bird smrtnica, or Marant the dog whose barking around the house announced 
an impending death.
163
 Matevž Ravnikar-Poženčan described such messengers of 
death as follows: 
VROK, ROK OR SPOMIN (MEMORY)
Vrok, Rok or Spomin, is a personified omen of the Latin peoples. They imagine it 
as a spirit that usually predicts death. Every person has his or her own ok. If a person 
falls ill and something is suddenly heard but nobody is able to identify the cause of 
that sound, the sick person usually says: “Maybe my Rok is walking about.” “Vroki” 
is also the term used by the common people for diseases whose cause is unknown to 
them (sunstroke, for example). To cure this affection, a piece of glowing charcoal is 
extinguished in a water-filled container that is placed above the sick person’s crown. 
That person should also drink some of that water. It was also believed that some 
people’s gaze causes this disease.
164
Inhabitants of Val Resia believe that death is announced by the Planet, a fiery 
ray that announces death wherever it falls. A similar tradition of the shooting star 
announcing death was widespread almost in the entire Slovene territory. To some 
extent, the Planet from Resia is reminiscent of the Škopnik.
163 
Trstenjak 1859, 46; Kelemina 1930: no. 92.
164 
Matevž Ravnikar-Poženčan, manuscript, NUK: MS 483, XI, no. 8.

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205
PLAGUE
Among a wide range of diseases that were personified by the common people. 
the best preserved in the Slovene folk narrative is the memory of the most terrible 
of them all: the plague. The Black Death, as it was also called, was widespread in the 
14
th
 century and had a high death toll. According to stories, the plague appears in 
yards in the form of a multi-coloured calf. Even more widespread was the notion that 
it appears as a fearsome old woman. This shuddering image from a folktale inspired 
poet Anton Aškerc to write his ballad “Ponočna potnica” (Night Passenger), and 
through this literary adaptation it has been preserved to the present day.
165
 
The villagers of Povirk, whose congregation of the local St. Jakob’s church also 
worshipped St. Fabian and St. Boštjan (Sebastian), saw the plague, disguised as a black 
girl, standing on a hilltop, calling. “Fabjan, Boštjan, you are so strong, you prohibit 
me from entering the village of Povirk!” 
It was also believed that a comet appearing in the sky brought famine, war, or 
the plague. 
In Prekmurje, people still say that the plague is the punishment of God, roam-
ing around the world, from village to village, from house to house. The plague killed 
livestock in the barn and chickens in the henhouse. In ancient times, it also killed 
people, and to ward it off they shut themselves in their houses and tried to drive it 
away with prayer and superstitions (Rešek 1995: 91, no. 35).
DUSK (MRAK)
Like the Plague, Mrak (Dusk), referred to also as Mrak, Mračnik, Somrak, or 
divjina, personifies disease. This supernatural being generally appearing as a large 
woman or man with a rotting face and large fiery eyes, is especially dangerous to chil-
dren as it brings disease (Kelemina 1930: 114, no. 64). A child with cramps, gripes or 
green stool, who cannot sleep and wails through the night, allegedly “has the dusks”.
At the beginning of the 20
th
 century, the people of Prekmurje still believed that 
the Mraki were three young boys. 
In Bela Krajina, Mračnjak was a large, black, and hairy man with a wide-
brimmed hat that vexed a person night after night, and could even take the victim 
away with him. To ward him off, people threw a slipper that was turned inside out 
at him.
A child afflicted with mrak was exposed to the fumes of dusk grass. Mrak was 
also “burned”. After lighting three chips of wood, the mother thrice shifted the 
165 
More about this see: Grafenauer 1958.

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