Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/408

 CHAPTER IX WATER-SPIRITS SPIRIT living in the water is called Vodyanik or Děduška Vodyanoy ("Water-Grandfather") by the Russians, Vodnik by the Bohemians, Vodeni Mož ("Water-Man") by the Slovenians, Topielec ("Drowner") by the Poles, etc. He is a bald-headed old man with fat belly and puffy cheeks, a high cap of reeds on his head, and a belt of rushes round his waist. He can transform himself in many ways, and when in a village, he assumes the form of a human being, though his true nature is revealed by the water which oozes from the left side of his coat. He lives in the deeper portions of rivers, brooks, or lakes, mostly in the neighbourhood of mills; and there he possesses stone-built courtyards in which he keeps numerous herds of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, driving them out at night to graze. During the day he usually lies concealed in deep places, but rises to the surface at night, clapping his hands and jumping from the water like a fish; or sometimes he sits on the mill-wheel, combing his long green hair.

The Vodyanik is the master of the waters; but although he is endowed with terrible strength and power so long as he is in the water, he is weak when on dry land. He likes to ride a sheat-fish, or saddles a horse, bull, or cow, which he rides till it falls dead in the morasses. All that happens in the waters is done by his will. When in good humour, he drives the fish into the fisherman's net and guides sailors to safe places in stormy weather; but when his mood is irritable, he lures them to dangerous coasts and upsets their boats. He tears the spikes out of the mill-wheels, diverts the water from