Half-seen shadows slipping amidst the thorny thickets, the soft, drawn-out creak of shifting branches and the gentle, sighing-scrape of something moving through the leaf-litter... is it any wonder that forests build up a stock of folklore? Here are just a few examples, such as...
- Black Annis
- Huldufólk
- Leshy
- Tapio and Mielikki
- Fauns, Satyrs and Sileni
- Dryads
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| There could be anything hidden in there... (Rosie Sun) |
Black Annis
Somewhere between a hag-like monster and a witch, the legend of Black Annis comes to us from Leicester, where she was said to lair in the low-lying and wooded Dane Hills. She (also Black Anna, Cat Anna and Black Agnes) cut a striking figure - though described as having the shape of an old woman, she also had blue skin, a single eye and talons of iron.
Black Annis would sally forth from her cave at night (sunlight could allegedly petrify her) to hunt animals and children, pouncing from tree branches and ripping them apart. Her home (or "bower") had a large oak at the entrance, meaning that she didn't need to go far... but she could also reach inside unguarded windows and drag the unwary straight from their homes - an attentive listener could hear her grinding teeth as she approached.
Not only did the hag eat the flesh and drink the blood of her prey, she took the skins from her victims and used them to decorate her cave (which legend claimed she scratched out using her iron finger-nails) or make clothing. The cave itself was said to feature a tunnel that ran all the way to the cellars of Leicestershire Castle, which local legend claims she haunts to this day.
The legend of Black Annis dates back at least several centuries - it may have been inspired by a real person, the black-wearing Dominican nun Agnes Scott - who ran a colony for the sick and homeless.
Huldufólk
Amidst the moss volcanic terrain and remaining birch forests of Iceland, one might find evidence of the huldufólk or (hidden-folk.)
These elusive beings are said to inhabit features of the natural landscape - and while they can be helpful to humans (one story has an Icelander making a miraculous recovery after dreaming about mysterious doctors) it's considered deeply unwise to incur their wrath. Disturbing an "elf rock" might result in injury or illness, and government projects sometimes have to include efforts to protect huldufólk habitats - for example, relocating a massive boulder said to be an "elf church" when building a road.
Hellisgerði Park has been called out as a particularly important huldufólk site. In the 19th century, Anna Cathinca became interested in the strange plants growing around an old cave. She cultivated a garden in the lava fields surrounding it, resulting in a miniature "enchanted forest" said to be inhabited by the hidden-folk.
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| Iceland's not just flat volcanic tundra... (John Thomas) |
Leshy
The master of the Slavic woodlands is Leshy, a being somewhere between a spirit and a god. He's said to be fiercely protective of his forests...but a lot more ambivalent towards humanity.
Leshy usually took the form of an old man, but was missing his right ear, eyebrows and eyelashes. His body was covered with a coat of green hair, and should he be wounded, his blood dripped blue. He could also change size depending on where he was - he could match the tees for height inside the woods, but would shrink to the size of the grass once leaving them.
Generally Leshy left humans alone, but wasn't above teaching a lesson in humility or the dangers of the deep woods to those who didn't respect the trees. He could lure travelers from the path... or even abduct the unwary if roused to anger.
It was fairly easy to get back in Leshy's good books though. Making a fool of yourself (say, by putting your clothing on back to front) could amuse him and get him to leave you be. On the rare occasions he took a shine to a human, Leshy could protect their livestock, give them advice or even impart magical secrets!
Tapio and Mielikki
The Finnish Tapio was said to rule both the forests and the game within them from his realm of "Tapiola." He was the forest personified, matching a fir tree in height and resembling a fierce-looking man from the front but a gnarled old tree from behind.
If Tapio was the master of the forest, his wife Mielikki was its mistress. She could be depicted as a beautiful woman arrayed in finery if a hunt had gone well, or be represented as a hideous hag if the hunters would be going hungry. She was said to hold the keys to the treasury of Tapiola and a container filled with honey.
The Finnish epic Kalevala also gives her credit for creating Otso, the sacred bear. The story goes that she threw hair in the rivers and wool on the ocean, then gathered the fragments. She fashioned them into a bundle and placed them in a basket bound to the top of a pine... and the bundle grew into a bear. Finally, she made him claws and teeth from a mighty fir tree... in exchange for Otso's promise to not harm the worthy.
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| Satyrs and fauns blended animal and human features... (Kerin Gedge) |
Fauns, Satyrs and Sileni
Blending beast with man, the Greek satyrs and sileni were eventually joined by the Roman fauns.
Each of these creatures was depicted as a somewhat uncouth human male, associated with the wild and bearing animal characteristics. The Greek versions were initially depicted as having the ears and tails of horses (along with an erect member) but during the Hellenistic period they were shown with the legs of a goat.
It's not really known why the Greeks had both satyrs and sileni - one theory is that the sileni were the horse version and satyr the goat, while another theory suggests that they were regional names for the same creature. Either way, satyrs became the popular figures of ribald revelry while the sileni condensed into the character Silenus, an elderly and wise (albeit frequently drunk) satyr!
The Roman faun was a little more restrained than his Greek counterparts - they were considered a lesser version of the god Faunus, responsible for the bounty of fields and flocks. Faunus eventually became conflated with the Greek Pan - and in the same way, fauns became linked to satyrs.
Dryads
The dryad is probably one of the best known forest spirits in the western world - they were originally Greek, but were later adopted into the mythology of Rome. Dryads were considered a form of nymph, usually taking the form of a beautiful young woman that would live as long as the tree she inhabited.
What's less well known about dryads is that they came in several different flavors, for want of a better term. Drys (or δρυς) is the Greek for oak, and dryads were associated with oak trees. Other versions of dryad existed for other trees, such as the Meliae of the ash tree.
Greek legend tells the tale of Daphne and Apollo. The god (struck by the arrow of Eros) attempted to chase down the nymph in a fit of lust, but she called out to Gaia for protection and was transformed into a laurel bush just as Apollo reached her - the god subsequently adopted the laurel as his sacred plant!
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