Also called Leshii, Lesovik, Borovik, Master of the Forest.
The tale
The leshy rules the forest and can be as tall as the tallest pine or as small as a blade of grass. He loves to lead travellers in circles until they are hopelessly lost, laughing and hooting among the trees. The cure, peasants said, was to turn your clothes inside out and put your shoes on the wrong feet, which confused him enough to let you go. Herdsmen sometimes made agreements with him so that wolves and bears would leave their cattle alone all summer, and he was said to vanish underground each autumn when the woods fell quiet.
When they are met
- when entering a forest
- at the start of the herding season
- on returning from the woods with food or firewood
Staying on their good side
- bread or salt left on a stump
- the first of what you gather or catch
- quiet behaviour in the woods
- never whistling or shouting for no reason among the trees
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Greet the woods when you walk in and thank them when you walk out.
- Leave no litter and take only a little of anything you forage.
- If you feel muddled on a path, stop, breathe and, as tradition suggests, turn your coat inside out or swap your gloves.
- Spend time learning the trees and animals of your local woodland.
What their tales teach
- respect for wild places
- finding your way when lost
- keeping animals safe
- learning patience in nature
Symbols
- a tall man in a wrongly buttoned coat
- a shadowless figure
- wild laughter and whistling
- wolves and bears as his herd
From Russian and wider East Slavic peasant belief recorded in the 19th century.
More Slavic folklore
- Baba Yaga The witch in the hut on hen's legs
- Domovoi The grandfather who lives behind the stove
- Rusalka The maiden of river and birch
- Kikimora The spinner in the dark corner
- Koschei the Deathless The sorcerer whose death is hidden
- Kostroma The straw maiden of spring and summer
- Dodola The rain-bringing girl of summer
- Kolyada The spirit of midwinter carolling