He appears as a plant, animal or anthropomorphic creature. He can appear in the form of relatives and acquaintances. Leshi was described as a giant and as a dwarf; there is a belief that he could change his height. He dresses as an ordinary person. Often a strong wind accompanies him. Leshi has no shadow. He can become invisible. He has tremendous strength. All the variety of forest sounds is attributed to him, but he can also speak in a human way.
He is a lonely creature, there is only one Leshi in one forest, but in a number of tales Leshi has a family and even villages (the leshi’s wife is a leshi too or a kidnapped girl, children could be their own or also kidnapped). Leshi can be portrayed as having a calm character, or as a funny lover, he is strong and scary, or can be stupid. As the owner of the forest, he takes care of it, protects it, he is the patron saint of forest animals and plants.
Leshi could predict the future, in connection with which there were rituals of his evocation and fortune-telling.
The Slavs never entered the forest without asking the permission from leshi.
No comments:
Post a Comment