Do you have any mischievous mythical creatures in your culture?

[Atticus]

Father Christmas is "Joulupukki" in Finnish, the word consists of two separate words, "joulu" and "pukki". Joulu means christmas, but is of pagan origin (jul) and pukki means goat, and thus Joulupukki means "christmas goat" (with the exception that it isn't associated with christianity).

The word comes from the time when modern consept of Father Christmas wasn't yet adopted in Finland. These "christmas goats" used to visit houses at Christmas dressed in upside down furcoat and horns in their heads, they caused trouble and demanded booze from people. (I should emphasize that it wasn't a myth, people actually did dress that way and visit houses).

Before that there was similar creature called Nuuttipukki, which came couple days after the christmas on Nuutti's day and took the christmas away.

 

[Agent327]

Den vos Reynarde (Reynard the fox) and Tijl Uilenspiegel (quickly copied from its German origin - and not covered by the Grimm brothers, incidentally).

 

[Dachs]

Den vos Reynarde (Reynard the fox) and Tijl Uilenspiegel (quickly copied from its German origin - and not covered by the Grimm brothers, incidentally).

But Ben Jonson mentions Till Eulenspiegel in The Alchemist! (Great play, I recommend it, but I think Volpone is better.)

 

[Steph]

It's not really a mischievous creature, but in Savoy we have the Dahu.

It is a 4 legs animals particularily adapted to life in mountainous area. So the legs on one side are shorter than the leg on the other side, allowing the Dahu to walk and run sidaways on slopes easily. Of course, it can do it only turning around the mountain in one direction. Therefore, you have two types of Dahu, the "left turning" and the "right turning" (dextrogyre and senestrogyre or levogyre is the French scentifical name).

To hun a Dahu, you need to take a big bag, and approach the Dahu quietly at night (they stay in their dwellings during the day), with two hunters.

One is with the bag, downslope. The other sneaks behind the Dahu, and whistle. The Dahu, startled, turn around to see behind him what makes the noise... And then the shorter legs are on the wrong side, the Dahu falls, in the bag!

Here is a small drawing I made to explain the Dhu hunt technique.

 

[Abaddon]

Cheers Steph.

 

[Steph]

Some better quality drawins from side and face.

And another drawing of the Dahu hunt. I must humbly say that my own drawing (see above) has a much better artistic quality, but in all fairness I can show the work from other people .

And here is a video reportage, but it's for a Dahu in Austria, not in Savoy.

Its really worth watching it to the end.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Moderator Action: Let's restrict this to actual mythical creatures.

 

[Steph]

It is mythical, just not mischievous.

To each country its own myth.

In the USA you have big foot, in Savoy we have Dahu.

 

[RedRalph]

Ye may not have heard of the Will-O-The-Wisp, its meant to be a mischievious imp that hangs around in fields, now thought to have been illuminated marsh gas

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

It is mythical, just not mischievous.

That's okay, I wasn't referring to you anyways.

 

[flyingchicken]

EDIT: Oh well. We have "dwarves," which is the only translation we have for "dwende."

As a comedian once put them: They're like Smurfs, only they're out to kill you.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

To clarify, I just mean don't mention real people, as they don't really count as "mythical".

 

[GinandTonic]

And here is a video reportage, but it's for a Dahu in Austria, not in Savoy.

Its really worth watching it to the end.

Good work fella

 

[GinandTonic]

Ye may not have heard of the Will-O-The-Wisp, its meant to be a mischievious imp that hangs around in fields, now thought to have been illuminated marsh gas

Link to video.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

Well there is always the New Jersey Devil.. Like most Jersey myths, it's not about what it actually does but instead how it allegedly came to be and how it supposedly haunts us to this day. Tis' a boring state, we make up a lot of stuff to keep us entertained.

"It was said that Mother Leeds had 12 children and after given birth to her 12th child, she said if she had another, it would be the devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a horse's head, bat wings and a forked tail. It growled and screamed, then killed the midwife before flying up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exorcised the devil for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890."[citation needed]

"Mother Leeds" has been identified by some as Deborah Leeds, who was the wife of Japhet Leeds. This identification may have gained credence from the fact that Japhet Leeds named twelve children in the will he wrote in 1736,[1] which is compatible with the legend of the Jersey Devil being the thirteenth child born by Mother Leeds.

*: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil

 

[Love]

Näcken, or translated "The Naked" Is kinda a male siren, sitting naked on a rock in the middle of a river, playing violin. He's said to express raw sexiness and is also said to play awesome violin. He's attracting young women and musicians. As they try to get to him, he draws them to hell, as he is the devil.

Or something like that.

Tomtar, Troll and Rå (kind of like an evil dryad)

 

[Atticus]

There's Näcken in Finnish mytology also, called Näkki here. Though it's better known as a brand of condoms. When I was a student we had a professor whose last name was Näkki, and it really never ceaased to be funny. You could call him mischievous too.

I browsed net little bit and found some more mischievous creatures, but will probably tell about them later.

I must ask: What is the rather disturbing picture RLesink posted on the previous page?

 

[nonconformist]

Ye may not have heard of the Will-O-The-Wisp, its meant to be a mischievious imp that hangs around in fields, now thought to have been illuminated marsh gas

Sure its not this feller?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNACBKwi-As&feature=related

 

[Abaddon]

Moderator Action: Let's restrict this to actual mythical creatures.

Oxymoron much?

 

[Angst]