Czech River dweller Mythology Archives

Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: Little Waterman
Category: River dweller

The Myth

Little watermen were said to walk among humans, but they could be recognised by water constantly dripping from one of their sleeves.

One day, a man spotted a little waterman at a cattle market and pointed him out to his companion, remarking that water was dripping from the creature’s left sleeve. Later, when the man was alone, the waterman approached him and declared that they had a score to settle because the man had exposed him. As the man passed a pond, the waterman attacked him from behind and pushed his head underwater until he drowned.

Another tale comes from Winterberg, where a little waterman entered a butcher’s shop hoping to buy a roast. He wore green clothes, and water dripped constantly from his right coat pocket. The arrogant butcher immediately recognised him and ordered him to point out the meat he wanted to purchase. When the waterman touched a piece of meat hanging on a hook, the butcher struck him with a cleaver and cut off one of his fingers.

The wounded waterman raised his bloody hand and threatened the butcher, declaring that he would drown. Believing he could avoid this fate, the butcher thereafter kept away from ponds and other bodies of water. However, one night, after returning home drunk from drinking beer, he could not find his door and fell asleep beneath the eaves of his house. During the night, heavy rain poured from the roof, and the butcher was found drowned beneath the eaves the following morning.

Sources

Sagen.at. (n.d.). Aquarius. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/wassermaennlein.html

The Myth

Once, a pitch breaker was resting beside the Devil’s Lake when a small figure suddenly appeared before him. The stranger was hardly taller than a three-year-old child, but had an elderly face and a long, wet, moss-covered beard that hung down to the ground. He complained that his wife had been stolen and begged the pitch breaker to help him find her.

Moved by the little Schratel’s desperate pleas, the kind-hearted man agreed to accompany him. Within a few hours, they reached a strange, wild, expansive lake. The Schratel told the pitch breaker to wait at the shore while he dived into the water, promising that he would retrieve his wife when the water turned red.

The little figure plunged into the lake. Immediately, the water turned bloody, churned and seethed, and a terrible roar arose from its depths. The pitch breaker waited a long time, but the Schratel never returned.

Eventually, the man went to a nearby village and asked where he was. To his astonishment, the villagers told him he was in Tyrol. He then had to make the long journey back to the Bohemian Forest alone, wearing his wooden shoes.