Tradition: Belgian Mythology
Alternative Names: Groeiend Spookdier
Category: Rat
The Myth
The Groeiend Spookdier first appeared as a small creature resembling a rat, but it possessed the strange ability to grow to an enormous size.
A man had lost his wife and went to the priest to report her death. At the cemetery, beside the charnel house, he knelt and prayed an Our Father for the repose of her soul. As he sat there, a great weight suddenly pressed down upon his shoulders. The mysterious burden soon disappeared, and the man was able to leave.
On his way home, a little animal resembling a rat suddenly emerged from a stream and ran between his legs. He continued on his way, but the strange creature followed him. As it went, it grew larger and larger until it became so enormous that the man could have ridden upon its back.
Not far from his home, the strange beast suddenly leapt back into the stream and disappeared beneath the water. The man never saw it again, and he had never encountered an animal like it before.
Sources
De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921.