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Leshy

Derived from 'les', which means 'the forest'. The Slavs lived in forested areas and it is obvious that they would a spirit of the forest. Leshy had the shape of a human being with long hair, as a priest. His blood was blue, this gave his cheeks the blue appearance that it had. He had fiery green pop out eyes and bushy, grass-like eyebrows. His beard was long and green. Some legends described him as having a red scarf and having his left shoe on his right foot. Leshy had no shadow. In the center of the forest he was gigantic, but on the edges he turned into a tiny dwarf-like character able to hide under a leaf.

He was very possessive of his property of barely left his kingdom. Leshy enjoyed leading peasants and hunters entering the forest onto the wrong path and eventually returning them to the spot they started. Leshy wasn't totally wicked and mostly let the poor mislead people go. There was a secret to escaping him. One had to sit under a tree, undress, and put your clothes back on backwards. You also had to put you left shoe on your right foot. Leshy respected people who did this and let them go.

A certain legend says that Leshy was the son of a demon and a human woman. Another believes him to have a family. He had a wife called Leshachikha, and children, the Leshanki. Leshy and his family lived together in the forest performing their mischievous deeds together.