Rubezahl. Guardian Rubezahl is a folklore mountain spirit of the Krkonose Mountains, a mountain range along the border between the historical lands of Bohemia and Silesia.
He is the subject of many legends and fairy tales in German, Polish, and Czech folklore. The origin of the name is not clear.
One interpretation is from the story How Rübezahl Got his Name, by Johann Karl August Musäus, which recounts how Rübezahl abducted a princess who liked turnips. The princess gets very lonely there in the mountains.
To keep her company, Rübezahl turns the turnips into her friends and acquaintances. As the turnips wilt after a little while, so do the persons that were created by Rübezahl's magic.
The princess asks him to count the turnips in the field. While he counted, she escaped. Following this explanation, some early English writers translated his name as Number Nip, including the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Another proposed etymology is Riebezagel, from a combination of the personal name Riebe and the Middle High German zagel, meaning tail, from his pictorial representation as a tailed demon. According to the etymologist Friedrich Kluge, the name is a contraction of Middle High German Ruobezagel, turnip-tail. Rübezahl is a name of ridicule, the use of which provokes his anger. Respectful names are Lord of the Mountain, Treasure Keeper or among herbalists Lord John. In one Silesian folktale,
He is the subject of many legends and fairy tales in German, Polish, and Czech folklore. The origin of the name is not clear.
One interpretation is from the story How Rübezahl Got his Name, by Johann Karl August Musäus, which recounts how Rübezahl abducted a princess who liked turnips. The princess gets very lonely there in the mountains.
To keep her company, Rübezahl turns the turnips into her friends and acquaintances. As the turnips wilt after a little while, so do the persons that were created by Rübezahl's magic.
The princess asks him to count the turnips in the field. While he counted, she escaped. Following this explanation, some early English writers translated his name as Number Nip, including the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Another proposed etymology is Riebezagel, from a combination of the personal name Riebe and the Middle High German zagel, meaning tail, from his pictorial representation as a tailed demon. According to the etymologist Friedrich Kluge, the name is a contraction of Middle High German Ruobezagel, turnip-tail. Rübezahl is a name of ridicule, the use of which provokes his anger. Respectful names are Lord of the Mountain, Treasure Keeper or among herbalists Lord John. In one Silesian folktale,
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