Fern Flower
Published on November 6, 2018

Storeroom

  • Storekeeper
  • Storeroom
  • Kladenets
  • Layun
  • Tickler
  • Kopsha
  • Storeroom demon
  • Skarbnik
  • Dzedka

Regions of expansion

Russia 1 Belarus 1 Ukraine 1 Poland 1 Bulgaria 1 Czech Republic 1 Serbia 1
Russian Federation
Ukraine
Poland
Belarus
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Serbia

Description

There are "pure", that is, not sworn treasures, they can be taken by anyone without harm to themselves. But most of the treasures are "unclean", cursed and are under the protection of evil spirits. 

In Slavic folklore, there is a spirit guarding treasures. It has different names for different peoples. Russians have a kladenets, a storekeeper, a layun, a tickler, a kopsha, a storeroom demon; Ukrainians have a skarbnik, in Polish it is called skarbnik, bazyliszek, Belarusians call this creature a dziedka, Czechs a cervený mužik, in Bulgaria - stopan, saibia.

It was believed that people did not see him, but only noticed his eyes red as lights. Therefore, if anyone notices the red lights, he can safely go to them, since there is a treasure buried there or there is a bag with money.

You need to throw a hat or a bunch of hair at the light, then the treasure will be at the very surface of the earth. If you throw shoes or bast shoes, then the treasure will sink so deep into the ground that you will have to dig it up all your life.

He is often seen by a person in the form of a magpie. If his treasure is stolen, it turns into a dog and pursues the kidnapper.

Storeroom in popular culture