Monday, June 15, 2015

LESHII

 
LESHII
"Those forests on this hill are not forests: they are the hair that covers the shaggy head of the wood demon."
Nikolai Gogol, A Terrible Vengeance

"Even today, no Russian living at the forest's edge will take the forest for granted."

"Many stories about him stress his affinity with the vegetation of the forest. His skin might be gnarled like the bark of a tree, his hair and beard green as grass."

"Iconographic influences may be detected in some descriptions of the leshii's appearance, which endow him with a shaggy body, cloven hooves, a tail and horns."
 Elizabeth Warner, Russian Myths


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