Tradition / Region: Polish Mythology, Ukranian Mythology
Alternate Names: Maoupunu, Maupunu
Category: Mermaid, Zombie
The Myth
In the marshlands and river regions of eastern Polesia, it is said that not only girls become rusalki after death. Sometimes a boy may share their fate.
If a child dies before baptism, his soul cannot rest. Such a boy may return as a wandering spirit, bound to the waters and the fields. One such spirit is known as Maupun.
Maupun was once an unbaptized boy. After death he did not pass into the world of the dead, but instead came to dwell among the rusalki—the restless spirits of girls who died before receiving baptism. Over time, he became their leader and chief, ruling over them as they wandered the wetlands and meadows.
The rusalki under Maupun’s command are said to appear as pale girls with bright, shining eyes and wild, shaggy hair. During Trinity Week they leave the waters and roam the rye fields and grassy places, laughing loudly, singing, and playing together beneath the open sky.
But their laughter is dangerous. Anyone who encounters them must flee at once. If they catch a person, they will tickle and clutch them until they die.
And it is Maupun who leads them—
the boy who never received baptism,
now lord of the wandering mermaids of the marsh.
Gallery
Sources
Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Maupun. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/maupun/
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
Other
- How to Invite The Maupun