Tradition / Region: Romanian Mythology
Alternate Names: The Little One; The Bought Little One; The Farmer’s Familiar
Category: House dweller, Gnome
The Myth
In the village of Reussen there once lived a farmer who had acquired a being known as the Little One. He had obtained it for money, and from that time onward wealth flowed to him in such abundance that he scarcely knew what to do with it.
Every year he built new stables, barns, and sheds, only to tear them down again and rebuild them, simply to spend the money that continued to pour in.
Yet despite his riches, he found no peace. At last, wishing to be rid of the being, he bored a hole into a heavy floor beam with a large drill. Into this hole he forced the Little One and sealed it tightly, hoping to imprison it there forever.
But the Little One would not be confined. It burst the prison apart and destroyed everything the farmer possessed. His buildings were ruined, his property laid waste, and all his wealth vanished.
In the end, when the farmer went into the forest and leaned his rifle against a ladder, the Little One seized the weapon. It fired the gun and shot the man who had tried to betray it.
Thus the farmer lost both his fortune and his life to the very being that had once made him rich.
Gallery
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Der „Kleine“ in Reußen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/rumaenien/siebenbuergen/reussen.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