Myth and folktales

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Kodlak, see werewolf
Kodkodeka, Korkodeka, a wild woman 
from Stolvizza/Stolbica in Val Resia (see 
wild woman).
Kombal, see Kresnik
Koreta, see Kurent
Kosobrin, a mythical being that frightens 
small children in Kranjska Gora and its vi-
cinity, Kosobrin featured in Vandot’s book 
Kekec nad samotnim breznom (Kekec above 
a Secluded Chasm, 1924). In the 19
th
 century, 
the term kosobrin denoted a clumsy person.
Kozmoč, a mythical being in Alta Val Tore/
Terska dolina whose upper body is human 
while the lower part is that of a billy goat.
Kralj Matjaž (King Matthias). The folk hero 
Kralj Matjaž got his name from the Hungar-
ian King Matthias Corvinus (1443–1490), who 
was famous for being a just and benevolent 
ruler. Slovenian folk songs sing how Kralj 
Matjaž fought against Turks or saved his wife 
Alenčica from the Turkish jail. Slovenian 
stories often of a mighty Kralj Matjaž and his 
army sleeping in an underground cave or in 
the cellars of an old castle, for instance under 
the mountains Peca, Postojnska Jama, Sveta 
Gora na Štajerskem, Dobrač pod Krimom, 
Donačka Gora, Triglav, or in Sorško Polje, 
Pliberško Polje, etc. It was predicted that Kralj 
Matjaž and his army would rise up and come 
to the aid of the people when their country 
would be in danger. According to other pre-
dictions, Kralj Matjaž will not appear before 
the end of the world and will bring peace, 
justice and prosperity. This shows the expec-
tations, shared by many cultures, of a saviour 
and/or a new predicted golden era. In folktales, 
he was sometimes connected with Šembilja.
Lit.: Kotnik, France: 
Bukelce od Matjaža Andreja Šusterja-
Drabosnjaka. Čas 1923/1924; Grafenauer, Ivan: 
Slovenske 
pripovedke o Kralju Matjažu. Opera SAZU, Classis II, 4, 
Ljubljana 1951; Matičetov, Milko: 
Kralj Matjaž v luči novega 
slovenskega gradiva in novih raziskovanj. Dissertationes 
SAZU, Classis II, 4, Ljubljana 1958.
Kranjček, see goblin
Kresnica (Midsummer Day girl), ladarica. 
Clad in white and adorned with flowers, 
these girls went carolling on Midsummer 
Day and collecting donations. They set up a 
Midsummer Day bouquet or a maypole and 
adorned a crucifix, a village pillar, or a village 
chapel. On Midsummer Eve (June 23), they 
organized a large feast with Ivanova svatba 
(St. John’s wedding) which a Pentecostal cou-
ple recreates the sacred wedding, thus trying 
to influence general fertility. In some areas, 
and particularly in Croatia, the kresnice were 
called lade while in Serbia they were referred 
to as kraljice (queens). 
Kresnik,  Krsník,  Krstník,  Skrstník, 
šentjánževec, vésnik, vedogónja, obílnjak, 
kambál, bergant, benandant. 1) A solar de-
ity; 2) a person with supernatural abilities. 
According to lore, his mother carried him in 
her womb for nine years before he was born 
as the tenth or the twelfth son. The central 
figure in the Slovenian lore about this deity is 
the Kresnik of Vurberk. Initially appearing as 
a tribal god, Prince Kresnik, or earthly ruler 
fighting with the false kresnik for a bountiful 
harvest for his land, Kresnik gradually lost 
his mythical character. Lightening in beauti-
ful autumn evenings, on Midsummer Day, or 
on Christmas were attributed to the vedavci 
and the šentjanževci allegedly fighting each 
other in the form of red oxen (or dogs) against 
black ones. Valvasor mentioned such fights 
in 1689. 
Lit.: M. Bošković Stulli: 
Kresnik-Krsnik, ein Wesen aus der 
kroatischen und slovenischen Volksüberlieferung. Fabula 
3, Berlin 1960; N. Mikhailov: 
Kr(e)snik, eine Figur der Slowe-
nischen Version des urslawischen Hauptmythos. Baltische 
und slawische Mythologie, Madrid 1998; Z. Šmitek: 
Kresnik. 
An Attempt at a Mythological Reconstruction. 
Studia mythologica Slavica 1, 1998.

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229
Krimski mož (Man from Mt. Krim), see 
giant
Krivda (guilt), personified trouble from the 
surroundings of Bovec in the western Alps. 
It walks behind the godfathers who have not 
given right answers at the baptism of a child.
Krivec, see wind
Krivopeta, krivapéta, krivopétnica, dúga 
žéna, dujačesa, patölka, farca. The lore about 
these mostly evil female mythical beings with 
long, rumpled hair and feet and hands bent 
backwards has been preserved in western 
Slovenia. Believed to live in caves, they al-
legedly appear most frequently just before 
stormy weather. In Špeter/San Piertro Al 
Natisone in Italy, people thought that the 
krivopete could be chased away by ringing 
bells. Predicting weather from the top of 
high mountains, they occasionally helped 
farmers with farming chores but took away 
their children as payment (see wild woman).
Lit.: I. Trinko: 
Divje žene ali Krivjopete (Wild Women, or the 
Krivjopete). Ljubljanski zvon IV, Ljubljana 1884.
Krutoglav, see Veles 
Krvavo stegno, (bloody leg) see zlati škorenjci 
(golden boots)
Krvoses, see vampir
Kuga, see plague 
Kurent, Kórant, Kórent, Karánt, Kórat, Kúret, 
Kúre, Kóre, Koréta, St. Kórent, St. Pust (Car-
nival). A mythical fertility and lunar being 
and, according to Bezlaj, a deity of totemis-
tic cults denoting the one who creates and 
devises. When linked to the legend about a 
being living in the moon, which was wide-
spread in Europe and elsewhere, this expla-
nation seems quite plausible. On Earth, the 
kurent celebrates his name day on Shrove 
Tuesday when men dressed up as the kurenti 
plow around people’s houses “to make the 
turnips in their fields grow fat”. Kurent alleg-
edly presented the people of Kranjska with 
buckwheat and vine, which were the plants 
that he clung to during the Flood (Trdina). 
Many researchers explained Kurent as the 
god of unbridled pleasure, a Slavic Dionysus, 
or Bacchus. While Trstenjak likened him 
to Indian Shiva and Ravnika-Poženčan to 
Priamus of antiquity, Grafenauer perceived 
him as the Slavic deity of wine and joy, a 
lunar primogenitor, and a vicious higher de-
ity with origins in the pre-Slavic culture of 
nomadic shepherds. Although Matičetov and 
Kretzenbacher disproved the mythical origin 
of Kresnik, the recent archaeological findings 
of Ciglenečki indicate a connection between 
Kurent and the ancient cult of Cybele.
Lit.: I. Grafenauer, 
Prakulturne bajke pri Slovencih (Pre-
cultural Belief Tales of Slovenes), Etnolog 14, 1942; M. 
Matičetov, 
O bajnih bitjih Slovencev s pristavkom o Kuren-
tu (On Mythical Beings of Slovenes, with an Addition 
on Kurent) Traditiones 14, Ljubljana 1985; S. Ciglenečki, 
Late Traces of the Cults of Cybele and Attis. The Origins 
of the Kurenti and of the Pinewood Marriages (“Borovo 
gostuvanje”), Studia mythologica Slavica 2, 1999.
Kuret, see Kurent
Kvatra (Ember Day woman), Kvátrna bába, 
Kvátrnica. This is generally female mythi-
cal being, with the exception of Gorenjska, 
where she has a male counterpart called the 
Kvatrnik. The Kvatra usually appeared in the 
form of a frightening creature. Like Pehtra 
Baba, Torka (Tuesday), Četrtka (Thursday), 
etc., she ensured that Ember Weeks, or the 
pagan feriae, were properly observed. These 
were the days in March, June, September, 
and December that commenced with the first 
Wednesday after Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, 
the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Septem-
ber 19, and on St. Lucia’s Day on December 
13. Watching over people, the Kvatre made 
certain that people observed fasting and 
did not visit their sweethearts at night time, 

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