NIGHT CREATURES IN ROMANIAN FOLK TRADITION
by Carmen TRASCA
FROM "HOREA" Gymnasial school in Cluj-Napoca
English translation by Codruṭa Popovici - illustrated by Mirela Pete
One of the most beautiful Romanian myths refers to the (wicked) fairies or pixies, which are seducing supernatural beings,
endowed with magical powers. Greatly resembling the sirens or the nymphs, these wicked fairies are nocturnal apparitions which take revenge on the ordinary mortals who made the unpardonable mistake of looking at them. Graceful ghosts dancing in the moonlight, they are generally speaking positive characters which turn into wicked fairies at night time, when they can become visible.
According to our folk tradition, the wicked fairies only appear in remote places, where they dance naked or wearing vaporous silk or linen clothes, under which their breasts are barely hidden, and sometimes they put on dresses made from links of chains, having bells hanging around their ankles.
