Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: Sepp, Brother Strangelove
Category: Sorcerer
The Myth
The Strange Sepp was a mysterious man from Eisenstein in the Bohemian Forest who travelled from farm to farm, working wherever he was needed. He could serve as a farmhand, tend oxen, or take on almost any other job. He was known for his strange behaviour and his habit of laughing whenever something was stolen from him. He would simply say that a thief could be caught if one knew the right secrets.
One day, Sepp was helping a group of workers mow a meadow. During their midday meal, he hung his mower’s belt, drinking vessel, and whetstone nearby. When they returned, all three items had disappeared. The other workers mocked him and challenged him to use his mysterious abilities to get them back.
Sepp went straight to the village and gathered a piece of chalk, a wax candle, and a small empty cup. He drew a circle around himself, lit the candle, turned the cup upside down, and placed the light between his feet. Then he began reciting a dark spell.
The magic took hold of the thief, forcing him to turn back and return the stolen equipment, no matter how far away he had travelled. After witnessing this, the villagers stopped mocking Sepp and realised that he possessed genuine supernatural powers.
Yet Sepp’s strange abilities seemed to come at a spiritual cost. That same year, he was not allowed to receive confession, and whenever he attended church, he had to leave before the priest departed. He even declared that if he died that year, nobody should fetch a clergyman for him.
The tale portrays Sepp as a mysterious sorcerer whose knowledge could command supernatural forces, but whose relationship with the Church suggested that his powers came from a dark and dangerous source.
Sources
“Der seltsame Sepp” (The Strange Sepp). SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/sepp.html