Vodník

The name vodník was coined as early as in the 19^th century by Czech national revivalists. Another name for this mostly dangerous creature is hastrman, a name derived from the German word Wasserman. He usually has long hair, sometimes a red hat, typically a green cloak with ribbons and a pipe in his mouth. He has swimming membranes between his fingers, bulging eyes and a large nose. He will gladly leave his fish pond and go among people, who recognise him by the dripping coat-tail.

Vodník is closest to millers, fishermen and ferrymen, but he will also go to a tavern, to listen to music and to the square, where he brings good fortune in trading. He typically lisps, mumbles and snuffles. In a mill or in a fish shop, but also on his way somewhere, he cavorts. His power is inherently connected to water, in which he lives and from which he draws his strength. If he wants to drown a person, it is possible to defend oneself from him with freshly baked bread or wormwood, and he can be caught using a phloem string and hit with a bladdernut stick. It is sometimes helpful when a person asks him to give some sticks from the water. As the spirit of the water who guards his property (a fishpond or any other water, including underwater fauna), vodník has “relatives” in German, but also in Slavonic cultures.

He has close ties with his water kingdom not only with respect to its protection, taking revenge against intruders, but he also has the ability to shapeshift into water animals. Even more often, he takes the form of a horse, which either joins a herd of “regular” horses and then runs away, or a man, whom he can take on his back to water, but he can also turn into a rabbit or a piece of wood. In his underwater kingdom, he keeps the souls of the drowned in pots under the lids, and during the night he sits on a willow tree near water. This is the way he is also depicted in Erben’s Bouquet (Kytice) – he makes his boots and a coat and then forces a local girl to become his wife. He is a popular character in Czech culture, which is attested, for example, by Václav Vorlíček’s comedy How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer (Jak utopit Dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách, 1974) and by Alois Jirásek’s play Lucerna. Josef Lada’s paintings contributed to the popularisation of vodník.