Tradition / Region: Romanian Mythology
Alternate Names: The Little One; The Hidden Boy; House Little One
Category: House dweller, Gnome
The Myth
In the village of Alzen there once lived a farmer named Stefan Guipets. In his house, people said, there lived a small unseen being known only as the Little One.
Whenever the family sat down to eat, they always threw the first bite beneath the table for him. In return, the household prospered. In the pantry stood a sack of grain that was never empty, no matter how much was taken from it. Yet no one was allowed to touch this sack carelessly, for it belonged to the Little One.
On the chimney of the house the farmer had written a warning:
“Whoever wants to keep something secret
must not tell any woman.”
And so the Little One remained in the house, unseen, fed, and quietly guarding the farmer’s fortune.
Gallery
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Der „Kleine“ in Alzen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/rumaenien/siebenbuergen/alzen.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive