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Studia mythologica Slavica
ISSN 1408-6271       wwwISSN 1581-128x
Uredniški svet / 
Consiglio di redazione / 
 Advisory Board
Natka Badurina (Università degli Studi di Udine), Nikos Čausidis (Univerzitet 
Sv. Kiril i Metodi, Skopje), Larisa Fialkova (University of Haifa), Mare Kõiva 
(Estonian Institute of Folklore, Tartu), Monika Kropej Telban (Inštitut za 
slovensko narodopisje ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana), Janina Kursïte (Univerza v Rigi), 
Jumaniyozova Mamlakat Tojievna (Urgench state university), Nijolė Laurinkienė 
(Lietuvių literatŭros ir tautosakos institutas, Vilnius), Mirjam Mencej (Univerza v 
Ljubljani), Vlado Nartnik (Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša, ZRC SAZU, 
Ljubljana), Andrej Pleterski (Inštitut za arheologijo, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana), 
Ljubinko Radenković (SANU, Beograd), Svetlana Tolstaja (Institut slavjanovedenija 
Rossijskoj Akademii Nauk, Moskva)
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2 5  S t u d i a  M I T O L O G I C A  S l a v i c a   2 0 2 2
79–104 | https: / /doi .org/10.3986/SMS20222504
@language: sl, en, de, it, hr, ru, be, cs, sk, pl, uk
@trans-language: sl, en, de, it, hr, ru, be, cs, sk, pl, uk
@publisher-id: id
@doi: 10.3986/SMS20222504
@article-type: 0.00
@article-category: category
@pages: 79–104
@history-received: dd. mm. yyyy
@history-accepted: dd. mm. yyyy
* * *  Ž u r n a l  m e t a  * * *
@issue: 25
@volume: 2022
@pub-year: xx
@pub-date: dd. mm. yyyy
* * *  O p r e m a  * * *
@avtorji: Mare Kõiva, Elena Boganeva
@running-header: The treasure-bearer in East Slavic and 
Finno-Ugric contexts
The Treasure-bearer in East Slavic 
and Finno-Ugric Contexts
Mare Kõiva, Elena Boganeva
Namen tega članka je primerjalna in stukturalno-semantična raziskava narativov ver-
ovanja v leteče kače in zakladonoše na vzhodnoslovanskih (beloruskih, estonsko ruskih, 
drugih slovanskih) in ugrofinskih (estonskih, votskih, livonskih, finskih, vepskih) ob-
močjih ter povezanosti teh narativov z baltskimi in skandinavskimi verovanji. Gradivo 
je bilo zbrano med 19. in 21. stoletjem. Sodeč iz razpoložljivega gradiva, je bil lik ust-
varjen z opisovanjem lastnosti leteče kače in zakladonoše: izvora (kako se je nadnaravno 
bitje rodilo in kdo ga je rodil), splošnih pojavnih oblik, časovnih in krajevnih vidik-
ov, obnašanja (aktivno/pasivno; obredi) in žanrske pripadnosti (proces pripovedovanja 
zgodb, percepcija lika).
KLJUČNE BESEDE: zmaj, hut, škrat, magija, mlečna magija, zakladonoša, cmok
The goal of this article is to conduct comparative and structural-semantic research into 
belief narratives concerning flying serpents and treasure-bearers in East Slavic (Belaru-
sian, Estonian Russian, other Slavic traditions) and Finno-Ugric (Estonian, Votic, Livo-
nian, Finnish, Vepsian) regions related to Baltic and Scandinavian beliefs. The source 
material was collected between the 19th and 21st centuries. Based on the available 
materials, a character profile was created with respect to the following features while 
describing a flying serpent and a treasure-bringer: description of the origin (how and 
from whom the supernatural being originates), general forms of appearance, aspects of 
time and location, as well as the creature’s behaviour (active/passive; rituals) and genre 
affiliation (the process of storytelling, perception of the character).
KEYWORDS: dragon, khut, kratt, magic, milk magic, treasure bearer, tsmok
INTRODUCTION
The goal of this article is to conduct comparative research into belief narratives concerning 
flying serpents and treasure-bearers in East Slavic (Belarusian, Estonian Russian, other 
Slavic traditions) and Finno-Ugric (Estonian, Votic, Livonian, Finnish, Vepsian) regions 
related to other Scandinavian beliefs. Based on available materials collected between 
80 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
the 19th and 21st centuries, we created a character profile with respect to the following 
features while describing a flying serpent and a treasure-bringer: terminology (names, 
designations), and the mutual actions of people and a supernatural being; the origin (how 
and from whom the creature originates), general forms of appearance, time and location 
and modality issues, as well as behaviour (active/passive; motivated/ritual, rituals and 
their functional alternatives), the genre affiliated with the message, notes and comments 
about the process of storytelling and the perception of the mythical creature.
Different belief complexes intertwine in the corpus related to a mythical flying serpent 
and a treasure-bearer. For example, there are motifs of a dragon, in Belarusian folklore 
named tsmok and khut, and texts about a serpent-lover1 who, at the same time, was also 
a spirit-enricher. 
Treasure-bearing spirits mostly take the form of a flying fiery serpent, except for the 
West Belarusian khut, which is not tied to a specific form and can take the appearance 
of either an animate or inanimate object, as well as entities of the Belarusian-Lithuanian 
border areas like aitvaras/skalsininkas/kutas/hutas whose appearance is distinctly poly-
morphic. Exterior polymorphism (zoomorphism, ornitomorphism, or shape-shifting into 
an object) is also common in such Estonian, and Estonian Russian diaspora’s, entities 
as kratt, tont, puuk etc. However, even shape-shifting treasure-bearing entities are often 
depicted as flying fiery serpents.
In the East (as well as the West and South) Slavic tradition, the treasure-bearing serpent 
can also be a supernatural lover, and which case he has a dual appearance, taking the form 
of a fiery serpent in the air, and that of a human on the ground (Levkiyevskaya 1999: 
332–333). The serpent appears as a deceased husband (or groom) that a woman misses 
dearly, and engages in sexual activity with her. as a result, the woman either becomes 
ill or dies if she is unable to find a way to drive the dangerous visitor away2. In Belarus, 
texts about a serpent lover that also simultaneously function as a treasure-bearer were 
recorded from the rural oral tradition even more recently (Boganeva 2012: 30, No 15–17). 
In Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and other Finno-Ugric and Scandinavian traditions, as 
a rule treasure-bearing spirits are never combined with the concept of supernatural lover. 
In these traditions, a supernatural lover is a separate entity whose origins are connected 
to dangerous, restless undead or demonic forces. according to information available in 
archives of the Estonian Literary Museum, treasure-bearing spirits are not supernatural 
lovers in the mythology of the Estonian Russian diaspora. as we show later, the beliefs 
of Estonia’s Russian diaspora concerning treasure-bearers were heavily influenced by 
traditions among the native population: this includes both borrowing Estonian entity names 
not found in Russian (kratt, tont, puuk, pisuhänd etc.) and their visual representation, abil-
1 The appearance of a flying fiery serpent in East Slavic traditions encompasses at least three functionally 
different mythological entities: a) a treasure-bearing spirit; b) a supernatural lover; and c) a spirit that heralds 
tragic social events or natural disasters. With different origins, each of these entities takes different forms and 
appearances. 
2 One such method used by Belarusians (and Russians) involves the use of hemp seeds: the woman places 
hemp seeds in her hair and later combs them out before eating them in front of the serpent. When the serpent 
asks what she is doing, the woman replies that she is combing lice out and eating them. This will cause the 
serpent to fly away and never return. 
81THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
ities and actions. Therefore, since Estonian tradition has never combined treasure-bearing 
spirits with supernatural lovers, texts with similar occurrences are also not found in the 
Estonian Russian diaspora (there are 36 Russian texts featuring treasure-bearing spirits 
in the ELM archives). Our article about treasure-bearing spirits accordingly does not 
consider the supernatural-lover entities common in the East Slavic tradition. 
The treasure-bearers and flying serpents were often polymorphic: anthropomorphs, 
zoomorphs, or animated objects. 
We aimed to deconstruct these legends into sequences, plots and motifs so as to 
determine the consistency and details of the information concerned with these mythical 
creatures. 
Ethnographic and folkloristic methods were used to explain the legends and other 
belief narratives about the supernatural being, with use of the semantic-structural method, 
which shares features with the ethnolinguistic-folkloristic approach of the Moscow School 
and its development in Belarus. Yet, our approach has features similar to comparative 
method and situation analyses used in Estonia (Loorits 1949, Laagus 1973). Nikita Tolstoi 
(2013: 19) formulated his direction, initiated in the 1970s, as follows: “Ethnolinguistics 
is a part of linguistics, a subdiscipline which orients the scholar towards investigating 
the correlation and coherence between a language and folk culture, language and archaic 
mentality, language and folk art, through their interrelations and diverse correspondences. 
Ethnolinguistics is not just a hybrid of linguistics and ethnology, or a mixture of certain 
elements, factual or methodological, of one discipline and another”. Our analysis entailed 
dividing the entire verbal text into categories, with each part of the text being analysed 
with respect to these categories. Since all text variants are analysed using a single cate-
gory system, the texts are all comparable (Loorits 1949, Penttikäinen 1968, Laagus 1973, 
Kõiva and Boganeva 2021; Levkiyevskaya 1999).
The ethnic corpuses vary in size and are based on the level of intensity involved in 
the collection work. The amount of material collected from small nations is obviously 
smaller, and we operated with some corpuses through story catalogues, meaning that we 
did not pursue a more detailed statistical analysis. 
The main information sources about flying serpents in Belarusian folklore are ethno-
graphic publications and modern field materials (BFELa; avilin 2015: 172–177; Boganeva 
2012: 27–31; Bogdanovich 1895: 73–74; Drevlyanski 1846: 3–25; Nosovich 1870: 213; 
PEZ 2011: 81–82; Pietkiewicz 1938: 11; Romanov 1912: 290; TMKB 2011: 485–488). 
The primary source for the Estonian and Estonian Russian lore is the folklore archive of 
the Estonian Literary Museum, the digital tool Skriptoorium, and publications (cf. Eisen 
1895 and 1919; Kõiva and Boganeva 2021), whereas the main source for the Livonian, 
Votic, Finnish and Swedish lore is publications (Livonian: Loorits 1928; Votic: arukask 
1998, Västrik 1998, ariste 1943; Finnish: Jauhiainen 1998; Swedish: Klintberg 2010).
References to these creatures can also be found in modern society in political or other 
discourse, or are again in the spotlight for cultural, political or other reasons. The aim 
of the article is to examine which creatures and what kind of notions are involved in a 
particular region’s lore, and any similarities and differences.
82 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
BRIEFLY aBOUT TERMINOLOGY aND aCTION
The Belarusian mythical creature khut (Хут) is in many ways similar to the flying, fiery 
serpent of enrichment. The khut hatches from an egg laid by a 3- or 7-year-old rooster 
(typically a black one); it is a polymorphic demon with traits of both domovoy and dvo-
rovoy (a house spirit; Salavei 2011: 503)3. In other Slavic narrative traditions, folktales 
talk of the dragon or dwarf treasure-bearer Blagonič that hatched from a rooster’s egg 
(Kropej 2012: 109–111).
another Belarusian demonological creature tsmok (цмок) – a dragon – finds many 
parallels in Slavic languages and mythologies (cf. Russian-Proto-Slavic cмокъ (a serpent); 
in Bulgarian cмок (a grass snake, deaf adder); in Czech zmok (a dragon); in Slovak zmok 
(domovoy a house spirit); in Polish smok (a dragon), in Slovenian ses (a serpent – the 
name ses derives from the verb sesati, meaning to suck; cf. Kropej 2012: 238). according 
to Brückner, smokъ originally meant ‘the one who sucks’, akin to смокта́ть (to suck) 
mentioned by Fasmer (1987: 303). The creation of the tsmok character was influenced 
by the Christian legend about the battle of St. George (St. Yuri) with a terrible dragon. In 
Belarusian folklore, the tsmok is a traditional character in magical and heroic fairy tales 
about serpent slayers as well as in a poem about St. Yuri (George) and Tsmok. Pavel 
Drevlyanski distinguished three types of tsmoks, one of which, tsmok-domovik, is very 
similar to a fiery serpent that brings riches (Drevlyanski 1846: 262–267).
The Belarusians and Lithuanians have many cultural connections, explaining why sim-
ilarities can be detected among the Lithuanian aitvaras, a flying spirit that brings wealth; 
Lithuanian Belarusians in the north-west of Grodno region also know of skalsininkas, 
kutas, khutas, skutas, sparyzius, paryzius and damavykas. Aitvaras-kutas brings riches 
(grain, money, gold); it emerges from an egg, loves fried eggs, and burns a house down 
if it suspects that the master disrespects them. In short, it possesses many of the traits of 
domestic evil spirits, just like its Belarusian counterpart.
Quite different terminology concerned with flying (fiery) serpents can be found in 
the lore of Estonian Russians. We observe typical Russian/Slavic features: Zmey is 
the name given to a serpent usually referred to as “flying” by Russians (Belova 2012: 
24–26; Makhracheva 2012: 19–21; Levkiyevskaya 2019: 434–459; Petrova 2012: 23–24; 
Skulachev 2012: 21–23), Belarusians (Boganeva 2012: 27–30) and Ukrainians (Belova 
2012: 24–25; Levkiyevskaya 2019: 434–459). The names of the flying serpents given by 
Estonian Russians are largely influenced by their close proximity to Estonians and their 
mythology: puuk (a bearer, a tick), nasok (‘the one who carries’, probably derived from 
the word носить meaning: to carry), tont (a ghost, a bearer), lendva (a flying object, a 
witch arrow, a mythical disease); kratt (a bearer); haldjas (a protector, spirit), kratt; pyvsh/
pyuch, põvš, puvchish/puktish, puksish, puksik (different versions of puuk or bearer) – the 
terminology denotes treasure-bearers or spirit-protectors. according to Loorits, pūķis is 
3 Domovoy and dvorovoy (or khlevnik in Belarus) in Russian and Belarusian mythology may differ in regional 
traditions: domovoy is a spirit of the household that inhabits and exerts its power only within the house, whereas 
dvorovoy or khlevnik is a spirit of the farmyard, or barn, protecting the domestic animals in the barn (horses, 
cows etc.).
83THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
also known in the traditions of Latvia and Lithuania as well as in Western Russia close 
to the Baltic republics. a well-established Western Russian term about puuk or pūķis is 
pyvsh/pyuch (Loorits 1949: 208; cf. Karulis 1992). a couple of additional names recorded 
in Estonian are täht (a star) and punane kukk (a red rooster) – with both referring to its 
forms of appearance.
In the Estonian language, approximately 30 different terms or local names exist for 
the mythical treasure-bringer. Linguistically, one Estonian term – pisuhänd – refers to the 
image of a fire serpent, even though neither a serpent nor a flying serpent are mentioned 
in the Estonian descriptions as attention has been drawn to the sparking tail or fire tail 
that is described and by which the creature is identified. 
Five terms are almost equally popular, with these terms and their variations in 
different dialects seeing wide use: kratt (‘a bearer’), pisuhänd (a bearer, a fire tail, a 
sparking tail); puuk (a tick, meaning ‘to suck’); tont (a ghost); vedaja (a bearer, a treas-
ure-bearer) – which are all treasure-bearers, or sometimes referred to as grain-, dairy-, 
money- or fish-bearers. Puuk is a loanword from Swedish (puke) or from Low German 
(spōk, spūk – a ghost, a spook, an otherworldly creature). Tont is not only a term for 
a treasure-bearer but also for a vague supernatural being, an evil spirit, a monster, a 
ghost (EKSS 2009, ETY 2012; Skriptoorium; VMS 1996). almost all of these terms 
are also used in compound words to denote sub-categories of mythical or symbolical 
creatures, to express a negative (less often also a positive) emotion; to mark the villain, 
the compulsion, the syndrome etc.; they are curse formulas, exclamations. Words like 
kratt sometimes hold a broader meaning in standard language, including stealing or 
something shabby, poorly dressed, naughty etc. 
Fig. 1. Estonian terminology connected with a treasure-bearer; map by M. Kõiva 2021
84 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
Votian lemmüs, para, lennos, in some villages kandashka (‘a bearer’), is mostly 
connected with a human, especially a witch, and only scattered data exist about a flying 
serpent (Västrik 1998). The meaning of lemmüs was originally noidannuoli (a witch 
arrow), reconstructed as ‘flying, fluttering fire’ (cf. Estonian lemmed, lembed – sparks, 
fire particles; pisu has the same meaning) and also meant as a meteor, a ball of lightning, 
or some thunder-related phenomenon (ariste 1943: 309). 
The most typical Finnish names are para (maitopara – milk para, voipara – butter 
para) and mara. The Finnish para comes from the Swedish bära (cf. Estonian Swedish 
päär) and denotes a milk-stealer or milk-bearer (Jauhiainen 1998); the Karelian and 
Vepsian name is para (Vinokurova 2014).
The main task of the flying serpent or treasure-bringer is to steal from others and 
bring grain, bread, milk, beer or money to its master. In gratitude for the wealth the ser-
pent brings, the master must constantly give work to or feed it. However, it is the butter 
topping in the kratt’s porridge bowl that triggers action in the most common Estonian 
narrative, as evidenced by hundreds of records: “a servant eats the kratt’s food and shits 
in the bowl instead” (aarne 1918, aarne S.53). The same motif is popular among Votians 
(Västrik 1998) and Finns (Jauhiainen 1998: H191). 
ORIGIN OF THE SERPENTS OF ENRICHMENT
In all the traditions considered here, the masters of the flying serpent are partly 
associated with witchcraft and sorcerers, or a farmhand’s imitation of witchcraft. 
The traditional method for obtaining a serpent involves several steps and belongs to 
the mythical and fantasy dimension. In Belarus, an egg laid by a rooster (possibly a 
remnant of 16th-century myths about cockatrice-like creatures, a natural tiny, often 
yolkless egg reproduced before the hen is properly laying or after its reproductive 
period) must be carried next to one’s bosom for 1 to 7 years, and then a flying serpent 
will hatch out of it. 
according to Pavel Shein, a cat, not a serpent/snake, hatches from the egg. The cat is 
invisible during the day but appears at night when everyone is asleep. The landlady feeds 
it with scrambled egg and in return the cat brings her grain or money stolen from others 
(Shein 1902: 303). Shein also refers to a story in which a cat comes at night to eat the 
scrambled egg and frightens the young daughter-in-law to death. The young woman had 
slept next the stove, which the cat crossed each time on its ice-cold paws (Shein 1902: 
303-304). That is, even though in Shein’s description the cat is functionally identical to 
the enrichment snake, the last detail – the ice-cold paws – moves it closer to a ghost.
For Estonian Russians, the owners of flying enrichment serpents are typically asso-
ciated with witchcraft and sorcerers, or demons, and thus their origin is referred to as the 
outcome of a deal between demons and knowledgeable people (sorcerers): You will sell 
your soul, thus ‘puvchish’ carries money home (ERa, Vene 11, 509 (115); Laura, 1928). 
according to Uno Harva (1948), the Finnish para also denotes a sorcerer while the devil 
85THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
as a tick is an expression of piritys (< spiritus) in Finland; the same tradition is spread in 
Estonia and Livonia (Loorits 1928: 68–70, Loorits 1949: 167–168). 
In Estonian belief narratives, the mythic being – a treasure-bearer – is associated with 
extremely diverse folklore: 
– a self-made and animated kratt, which can make it self and be revived by verbal 
magic and magical actions, sometimes requiring the help of an evil force. Such a mythical 
being can also be purchased, but since it is a supernatural helper the relationship between 
the master and the mythical helper 
is complex. Magical helpers may 
appear upon reading the Seventh 
Book of Moses or the Black Book4, 
an ancient religious complex in it-
self, a famous book of knowledge 
and power (Eisen 1896; Ljungström 
2015; Klintberg 2010: M 85, type P 
41-43); Davies 2010; Kõiva 2011a). 
The self-made creature refers to a 
complex of witches possessing su-
pernatural knowledge. The tradition 
of kratt has several parallels with the 
spiritus, especially legends about 
difficulties of doing away with a 
spiritus or kratt. 
– a human or their soul is a kratt, mostly an anthropomorphic figure. Especially in 
the Estonian and Livonian traditions, one finds the well-known image of a witch whose 
soul can fly, and acts as a treasure-bearer, while her body lies breathless on the ground. In 
Estonian and Livonian lore, both men and women can fly to collect treasures or suck milk. 
– an animal-shaped kratt.
We must consider this variety and the ambivalent processes because folklore is not a 
clear-cut system. Based on the material analysed, we may say that in the Estonian texts 
in which the narrator is the protagonist of the story typically male and sometimes even 
concrete persons, known by their name, are mentioned. The kratt can be stopped by 
calling out to it: If you called out the name of the person who acted as a kratt, it dropped 
all the treasures it was carrying (E 36146/7 (15) ambla, 1898). according to beliefs, the 
treasures carried by the kratt were usable. at the end of the story when the treasure-bearer 
is forced to throw its load away, the narrator concludes: The treasure-bearer left its sack 
with peas in it. Women distributed the peas among themselves. My granny also ate those 
peas (RKM II 68, 191 (13) Simuna, 1955). 
4 according to folk belief, this was a collection of magic that originally belonged to the Bible but was separated 
from it. The background to the beliefs and legends of the Black Book was the existence of both handwritten and 
printed books containing magical formulae and recipies. The clergymen and healers are the persons to whom 
the Black Book has most often been associated. a survey about the magical books or grimoires was written 
by Owen Davis Grimoires: a History of Magic Books. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fig. 2. Kratt in the 2017 fantasy drama film November by 
Rainer Sarnet. Photo from https://www.filmfreakcentral.
net/ffc/2018/02/november-2017.html
86 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
Even though, according to the economic gender division, women were supposed to 
perform milk witchcraft, it is once again not uniform since the mythical milk stealing 
could be a job for either gender. In this respect, the Estonian and Livonian material dif-
fers from the Finnish and Swedish narratives where women are the main practitioners 
of witchcraft. The same pattern applies more generally in Estonian stories, for example, 
more men were accused at witch trials than women, which differs from European practice 
(Uuspuu 2001 [1938]). It is also evident that even in belief narratives young men are 
involved in various adventures and affairs more often than women, i.e. the young man 
is also more active in the storyworld (cf. Honko 1962).
– a specially made and animated kratt was a four-legged creature, yet a three-legged 
milk tick also existed, with two legs at the front and one at the back. There were also 
two-legged and one-legged creatures. In southern Sweden, mjölkhare (a milk hare) was 
well known (Klintberg 2010: 289); after being shot with a silver bullet, it is transformed 
into its original components: burned sticks, threads, and fur.
One of the standard plots in Estonia describes a farmer who goes to Riga with the 
intention of buying a kratt for himself from the Riga fair. On his way back, he looks at 
the creature he got from the seller and only sees a bunch of unnecessary clutter on his 
sleigh and then throws it all to the side of the road. Later on, the farmer travels the same 
road and discovers that the creature he had bought was still a kratt because it had carried 
grain and other valuable stuff there (cf. Jauhiainen 1998 in the Finnish tradition).  
The parallel noticed in connection with the Slavic tradition is remarkable: the treasure-bear-
er’s relationship with the house spirit (cf. Latvian mājas gars (~kungs), in German (Haus-) 
Kobold, in Russian domovoi, in Votian maja-elukas, and in Estonian tont, who originally was 
probably also a house spirit (cf. Loorits 1949), and had features in common with the spiritus. 
Estonian folklore demonstrates that each household had one or two of these creatures; 
it was chiefly farm owners who had them, or at least people considered to be wealthy. 
In a humorous tale, a servant imitates his master by making a kratt and, in the absence 
of suitable material, makes it with one leg. However, the latter is very agile yet also 
somewhat lazy and does not feel like going far from the house, so it starts to steal the 
grain the master’s kratt brought for him (E 15897 (25) Võnnu). 
The way the kratt is animated also varies. The Estonian treasure-bearer was made on 
three consecutive Thursday nights in the same month at the intersection of three roads. 
The materials used were pieces of worn-out fabric, pea stalks, ropes, old wooden bowl 
halves (for buttocks), an old hank (for the tail), a piece of glowing coal for the heart, pieces 
of iron for the teeth etc. In order to give it a soul, one had to steal sacramental wine from 
a church, keep it in one’s mouth and bring it home to animate the kratt (ERa II 12, 289 
(1) Simuna, 1931). In general terms, the same tradition spread among Estonian Russians.
It is often necessary to give three drops of blood to animate it, and in the stories the 
devil sometimes himself appears at the crossroads (cf. Klintberg 2010: 290). 
In many versions, people try to cheat the devil: blood is withdrawn from the paw of 
a cat or from a piglet. all of these elements add humour and excitement to the stories 
(RKM II 169, 407/9 (706) Sangaste, 1963). 
87THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
Verbal magic as well as the spells used to make the kratt were widely employed in 
Estonia (Kõiva 2011b), although some spells find parallels in the narratives about making 
a supernatural creature (a werewolf) and/or from metamorphoses:
A fire tail or ghost
In the olden days, people used to make fire tails or ghosts. On three 
Thursday nights, all sorts of old litter were put together. To breathe life 
into it, you read:
Kiuh, kauh hair on your head!
Siuh, sauh tail behind!
Piuh, pauh head on you!
An old man had made his own [kratt]. His son secretly went to see and heard 
the words uttered. As later also told to others. (ERa II 14, 247 (32) anna, 1929)
The corpus of charms is rich (over 50 texts); some ask the treasure-bearer to bring 
grain and promise to feed the treasure-bearer:
Come, dear krätt,
Come next door to me,
Bring my grain,
Back from the neighbours’ granary!
Feed you with bread then
And give you the joy of milk,
Shall not make you carry a heavy load
Neither gold, nor silver. (ERa II 159, 506/7 (85) Martna, 1937)
The Belarusian khut is closest in appearance and function to the kratt. However, khut 
is not made from old things or objects but has the ability to metamorphose; it can turn 
into any creature or thing, including a fire serpent. 
Fig. 3. Making of a kratt treasure-bearer. Perfor-
mance by Maret Ubaleht, photo by Siiri Kumari 
2018. https://www.siirikumari.com/the-smell-of-
cinders-and-rain/creation-of-the-kratt
Fig 4. Kratt, an example of community art, 2018 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46785534@
N06/15028865166
88 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
a milk kratt or a milk tick (piimapuuk) could also act imperceptibly and only ‘tick 
drops’ or drops of milk or excrements remained in the well, on the table, wall or trees 
(cf. Sweden: Klintberg 2010: 289; Latvia: Laime 2013). 
When a treasure-bearer was punished, it was believed that the person who had brought 
the milk in this form became ill (the same motifs are known in Belarus). a custom in 
Saaremaa was to throw the found excrement of the mythical creature into the fire, leading 
the perpetrator to suffer stomach-ache (constipation), which could only be relieved when 
a member of the victim’s family gave them something (water, food, tools or utensils). 
another aspect typical of modern legends about the treasure-bearer is a change in 
explanation. The observed phenomenon may be interpreted according to the old tradition 
in the periphery of Estonia, like in Setomaa and on the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa. 
Still, we can also find a new model of interpretation – aliens. This model began to emerge 
in the 1970s in connection to the attention being paid to unusual atmospheric phenomena 
and the expansion of UFO folklore. The latter mainly spread through a variety of lec-
tures, translations, or handwritten pamphlets, and helped instil knowledge about aliens, 
not only in Estonia but in Belarus as well (Kõiva 1996; Butov 2021). This broadened 
the explanatory model and drew attention to different light phenomena, for example, the 
descriptions of flying serpents – something resembling a fire wheel – by Russians living 
in Estonia during the 1930s. again, this is a process entailing changes, retranslations, 
and a set of vernacular perceptions.
VISUaL CHaRaCTERISTICS OF FLYING SERPENTS
Belarusian and Ukrainian traditions contain stories of serpents that walk instead of fly 
(Levkiyevskaya 2019: 439; TMKB 2011: 486–487). In Belarusian tradition, we find the 
appearance of a serpent depicted as “shaggy, scary and tall”, yet most importantly it does 
not fly; it walks, and walks upright, that is, in this description, the serpent possesses the 
features of both zoomorphic 
and anthropomorphic creatures. 
Ukrainian folklore also includes 
stories of serpents that walk 
instead of fly (Levkiyevskaya 
2019: 439, No. 9). Some re-
markable features are attributed 
to the flying serpents as they 
appear in flight, emphasising 
their fiery, luminous nature. 
Certain changes can be noticed 
in descriptions of the serpent’s 
colour, the brightness of its glow, 
and its shape based on the way 
it flies and what it is carrying. 
Fig. 5. Tsmok. Monument in Lelepe, Belorus. Photo from 
https://www.toursoyuz.by/2018/08/14/18-zhniunya-proy-
dze-festyival-u-gostsi-da-lepelskaga-tsmoka-pragrama/
89THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
Estonian Russians say that it glows yellow when it is carrying milk, and when it is carrying 
money it glows red (ERa II 109, 107 (48)). In Estonian lore, most forms of kratt – the 
self-made and human-shaped ones – are visible as fiery streaks. 
a characteristic shared by all the regions under investigation is the anthropomorphic 
figure of a flying serpent or treasure-bearer. For instance, modern Belarusian lore con-
tains purely anthropomorphic descriptions of a serpent of enrichment. It may be observed 
that, even with such an anthropomorphic appearance, the serpent is still flying, despite it 
looking like a man and wearing shoes that need to be dried (Boganeva 2012: 29, No. 8). 
In Livonian folk belief, a witch or a witch’s soul in the form of a kratt is seen flying in 
the sky, carrying milk or cream to its family. according to beliefs, it used to milk cows or 
suck milk, take cream from others and bring full barrels of milk back to its family. Besides 
the anthropomorphic and artificial kratt, zoomorphic ones also fly as fiery streaks. The 
mythical being is described as follows: it flies under the sky like a streak of fire; sparks 
are flying; it flies through the air, has fire in its mouth; like a stripe it goes through the 
air, a flame of fire in its wake; flies like a fire, leaving a tail behind; flies like a big bird 
overhead; comes like fire; a bird comes and fire appears in the yard; through the air like 
a black ball or a pile of wood or a haystack. a toad is seen sucking on the cow in a barn, 
leaving like a streak of fire through the air etc. (Loorits 1928: 40 ff.).
Like the Estonians, the Livs describe the anthropomorphic treasure-bearer as an ordinary 
persons, but when they practice witchcraft they turn into a streak of fire, a broom, or a 
bird, flying through the sky. again, narrators refer to real people by their names, speaking 
about how they acted as milk ticks. It is said that the body of a person lay lifeless on the 
ground until the soul acted as a tick. Here we can see an overlapping with the tradition of 
a whirlwind (Est. tuulispask) that steals grain and other things. Some reports in Livonian 
folklore state that only the witch that escapes through the chimney, with an oven broom 
between her thighs, milks cows. Some stories specify that the witches have a vessel with 
them – for example, a bladder, a large one like a pig’s bladder, into which they put milk 
to take it home; however, they cannot take butter. In some descriptions, the witches are 
black while the vessel into which 
they milk is also black, but the red 
tail behind them is like fire.
The Livonian witches can be 
invisible when they are sucking 
milk from a cow, while their shad-
ow can be seen on the barn wall. 
Loorits gives an example where 
the storyteller’s mother understood 
that somebody had been suck-
ing on her cow every night. One 
morning, she went to milk it and 
on the wall saw a naked man with 
big balls, which were decreasing; 
then there was a flash like a flame Fig 6. Kratt-bearer, Kristjan Raud, 1927. Vikipeedia.
90 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
of fire and he disappeared, but that morning the cow had not been milked (Loorits 1928: 
42, Loorits 1926: S 152). 
In Estonian tradition, the zoomorphic kratt figures were known as milk-bearers: a toad, 
frog, (black) dog, (black) cat, bird, crow, (black) rooster, chicken, duck, eagle, squirrel, or 
a snake, or commonly known as a milk sucker and a demonic creature. at the same time, 
the snake shares features with the house snake, which was fed and banned from killing. 
a ‘fish-bearer’ was widespread in the Estonian inland, but not along the coast or on 
the islands where fishing was a daily activity. The silgukratt could be a person, yet it 
was common for it to take the form of a cat (grey or black, and rarely also a yellow one), 
sometimes a large bird or a chicken. The money-bearer, or rahakratt, was a lesser-known 
character tasked with bringing money to the master. Records of rahakratt originate from 
different parishes, with it mainly appearing as anthropomorphic or artificial creatures. 
Votian tradition mentions para primarily as a human (often a witch) who milked cows 
(Västrik 1998). The Finnish para appeared in the form of an animal (rat, toad, frog, bird), 
a ball of fire, or a woman. It is the owner or the milk stealer (cf. Jauhiainen 1998: H1-
300). a woman was also the owner or the “milk bearer” in Sweden (Klintberg 2010: 289).
aCOUSTIC CHaRaCTERISTICS OF FLYING SERPENTS
In Belarus folklore, flying serpents of enrichment lack specific acoustic characteristics, 
which is not typical of mythological creatures. Rusalka, pharaonka, domovoy, lesovik, 
bannik and other demons usually possess certain auditory characteristics, sometimes very 
diverse, reflected in their respective tales. Rusalki, for instance, make vague sounds, entice 
and call people, laugh, cry, and sing, among others, insightful and enlightening songs. 
Domovoy and dvorovoy (khlevnik) can talk with their masters and answer questions; evil 
spirits make terrible noises (Vinogradova 2000: 179-199). although the acoustic image 
of Belarusian spirits-enrichers is generally uncertain, some texts about a flying serpent 
published by Pavel Shein in the early 20th century say the serpent’s flight is accompa-
nied by noise (Shein 1902: 302). Shein also presents the image of a spirit-enricher in 
the form of a cat whose movement is always associated with a slight noise and a buzz 
(Shein 1902: 304).
The flying serpent is an exceptional, silent character, although its visual characteristics 
are vibrant and detailed. If the serpent is unhappy with its master, it does not chastise him 
or make its disapproval known with sounds, but burns the house down and flies away 
to serve another master. 
although the flying serpent lover is visually similar to the serpent of enrichment, it 
has a distinctly different auditory image. In a famous tale about the serpent lover, hemp 
and lice, the serpent asks a woman eating hemp seeds what she is doing. The woman 
answers that she is eating lice and the serpent leaves her forever. 
In the Estonian corpus, acoustic parameters indicate that the treasure-bearers com-
municates with the master or has discussions with them and they also communicate with 
each other. Para also communicates with humans in the Votian tradition (Västrik 1998).
91THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
In legends, the milk-bearer and the fish-bearer vomit up milk or fish and thus make 
corresponding sounds. 
The way the master calls the creature is interesting as the human employs typical 
onomatopoeia: calls, imitation of a sound made by or associated with an animal or a bird, 
or imitative and suggestive words for a greater effect.
The treasure-bearer’s speech is remarkable, often using distorted foreign words and 
expressions or baby talk. In the legends under study, two kratt discuss the quality of food 
using baby talk: 
In a household the hostess put food in the attic for the kratt. The farm 
servant was not given as good food as the kratt. [One day he followed the 
hostess to the attic.] The servant ate the porridge left for the kratt and did 
his thing in the bowl instead. Kratts came to eat. One of them said: “Kuku 
pupp!” [‘Good porridge’ in baby talk], the other one: “Äka pupp!” [äka 
= kaka, ‘bad, shit porridge’ in baby talk]. The second kratt won the argu-
ment. Then they set the house on fire. (ERa II 30, 65/6 (4) Torma, 1930)
Tactile experiences are very rare, which is why they are not addressed here. 
TEMPORaL CHaRaCTERISTICS OF THE SERPENT OF ENRICHMENT
Unlike with the mythological khut and tsmok, the events in the texts take place in real 
historical time and usually in the time of the narrator, or in the recent past. The image 
of the treasure-bearer or flying serpent is associated with certain workflows, e.g. har-
vest and other periods related to winter supplies. This means the mythical creature’s 
image is situational. The least known in Estonian tradition is a kratt who moves about 
in wintertime.
In Belarusian tales about a serpent of enrichment, it can be seen during the winter 
months (one informant recalled she had seen the serpent while sledding downhill as a 
child), in autumn, in late summer during grain threshing, and during the off-season in spring 
and autumn (the mistress is “drying the serpent’s shoes”) (Boganeva 2012: No. 5, 7, 8). 
In Estonia, the most common time for milk stealing and milk magic was the period 
from the day the cattle were let out (around 1 april) until Midsummer Day (24 June). 
The motifs of milk magic are more closely related to spring (Easter, St. George’s Day) 
when it is done either by means of dust picked from the tracks of a neighbour’s herd, by 
the symbolic milking of junipers or fences, or by calling for milk while sitting on the 
branches of a tree (the same in Sweden; see Klintberg 2010: type P24 ff.). It was believed 
that butter made from the stolen milk had blood cells in it; the same motif appears in 
Swedish legends (Klintberg 2010: type P22).
The ‘fish-bearer’ acts during spring and summertime, the ‘grain-bearer’ in summer 
and also in autumn, when it is darker. The animated creature is connected with Thursday, 
namely, the most popular time for magic rituals.
92 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
as for the time of day when the act was accomplished, in Estonia this depended 
greatly on the type of bearer. They can act in the evening, in the morning, or at night, 
but certainly at a time when the grain has been winnowed.
The treasure was carried by the kratt also during the day. If there is nothing 
else to carry, they carry hay from meadows. (EKS 2, 161/2 Torma, 1890)
as for the time of day, in most cases the Belarusian tales and the legends found in the 
Russian archive of the Estonian Literary Museum do not explicitly mention it; still, based 
on the information collected it may be concluded that night is the serpent’s preferred time. 
The tale of a shimmering luminous serpent suggests a darker time of day. In some cases, 
night time is explicitly mentioned (ERa, Vene 4, 64 (7); Boganeva 2012: 29, No. 6, 7, 8). 
TYPICaL LOCI FOR THE SERPENT OF ENRICHMENT
The vast majority of narratives under investigation talk about a village environment; the 
activities take place on farmland or between farms and villages, in meadows, on village 
or inter-village roads, in which case the narrator, being on the outside, sees a kratt flying 
in the sky. The making and acquisition of the treasure-bearer occur in a space of magical 
significance such as a crossroads or a forest road outside the village. The treasure-bearer 
is often bought in the city of Riga (see above), the administrative centre of Livonia. 
Riga represents a more distant space/city where miraculous cases are possible from the 
storytelling point of view. 
Moreover, the structure of the farmstead is revealed in via legends. In both Estonian 
and Estonian Russian legends, the most typical loci for the serpent in the house are the 
attic and the threshing floor, or a storehouse for milk or grain, or a barn. The grain car-
riers lived in the attic, under the roof, and were given food there. They went in and out 
through a hatch, a gable end window. This was also considered to be the reason that a 
tail of fire was seen entering a house. Even today, people believe that a streak of fire that 
goes into a house but does not cause a fire is a kratt. In Votian tradition, the porridge for 
the treasure-bearer is put in an oven, on a rake, or in a barn (Västrik 1998).
 METHODS USED TO WaRD OFF THE TREaSURE-BEaRER
In Belarusian texts, including modern ones, the spirit-enricher in the form of a flying 
serpent is often envisioned as an au pair and is not associated with evil spirits. In this 
case, as a rule the owners do not protect themselves from it, and try to please it with their 
favourite food. Yet, when the snake threatens a person’s life or property they employ 
typical methods of protection from evil spirits: a cross, prayers, sharp iron objects etc. 
(Boganeva 2012: 29-30). 
93THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
However, one Belarusian ethnographic description by alexander Dembovetski from 
the 19th century gives a curious ‘instruction’ regarding the destruction of the serpent-en-
richer. The owner must find out where the snake sleeps, then take a rope, cover it with 
tar, and hit the serpent with it. The serpent takes different guises and asks to be hit again 
(which cannot be done), and then dies. If the owner listens to the snake and hits it again, 
the snake will kill him and burn the property down (Dembovetski 1882: 498-499). 
Estonian lore stipulates that, while punishing the treasure-bearer, numbers must not be 
counted in the correct order: 
Volmer grabbed it, took a whip and gave the treasure bearer a good beat-
ing, counting: ‘One, two, four; one, two, four’. The treasure bearer was 
screaming: ‘Say one, two, three!’. As soon as Volmer had said one-two-
three, the treasure bearer vanished. (E 45211/2 Paistu, 1905)
In Estonia, we can find verbal charms against the treasure bearer and all the usual 
methods of protection against evil spirits like crosses, prayers, and sharp iron objects, 
but a common belief is: 
Then undo all the cords and buttons around you and the fire tail will drop 
its load. And if you put a silver bullet in the gun and you shoot it in the 
direction of the fire tail, it will also drop its load. If you see a fire tail and 
throw a lit match or an ember at it, it will set the master’s house in fire (E 
16787 (1) Pärnu-Jaagupi, 1895).
PERCEPTION OF THE FIERY SERPENT
Legends and belief narratives usually address the viewpoints of the narrator and the listener. 
In rituals, a distinction is made between the viewpoints of the spectator, the ritual leader, 
and the ordinary participator. also in our cases, a distinction is first and foremost made 
between the stories and experiences of the narrator or transcriber, and those that they have 
heard from their friends and relatives as to which the narrator has no direct experience. 
There is a considerable number of people’s own experiences in the Estonian corpus, and 
among the texts of Estonian Russians and also in the more recent Belarusian texts. We 
even have eyewitness accounts (ERa, Vene 11, 445 (9); ERa, Vene 11, 445 (9)). Such 
experiences are distinguished by emotional evaluations and often lead to new arguments 
and interpretations. Doubts about the existence of flying serpents are much less common. 
Estonian Russians at the start of the 20th century generally considered flying serpents 
to be evil spirits. 
Tont is a serpent. It brought goods to its master. It was Satan himself, they 
said. (ERa, Vene 1, 699 (3)) 
94 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
One Estonian Russian narrator reflects on whether the flying serpent comes from God 
or Satan, and concludes that it does not come from God.
The flying serpent… I don’t know if it was sent by God or the Evil One. 
Probably by the Evil One. God would just give it to man if he wanted to 
make him rich, and it [the serpent] wouldn’t have been necessary. (ERa, 
Vene 1, 218/9 (22)) 
In modern Belarusian lore, the narrators rarely state that they themselves have wit-
nessed flying serpents, and mainly refer to the stories told by their relatives and friends 
(Boganeva 2012: 28, No. 2, 13, 30). 
Not all modern narrators living in Belarusian villages believe in the existence of 
flying serpents: 
There used to be legends about a serpent that brought riches to a wealthy 
man. He had storehouses, this and that… We didn’t have this. … Well, they 
were just fairy tales. (Boganeva 2012: 28, No. 4) 
The perception of the character described by the Belarusian narrators is far more 
ambiguous than that of the Estonian Russians. In contemporary records, the serpent that 
brings wealth has a dual interpretation. On one hand, it is a household deity, similar to that 
described by P. Shpilevsky5 and a. Bogdanovich, which contributes to the enrichment of 
its master (not necessarily a sorcerer). It is only about such a serpent that the following 
could be said: You know, daughter, if only we had such a serpent … (Boganeva 2012: 
28, No. 1). This kind of serpent, a serpent of enrichment, is not usually referred to as 
an evil spirit. In this regard, the text that was recorded as told by Maria Seliverstovna 
Kokhanovskaya (b. 1927) is especially telling. When asked whether the serpent is an evil 
spirit, she answered affirmatively, yet sounded very uncertain: “Well, yes, it’s probably 
an evil spirit …”. and then she immediately changed her opinion, stating that “it does 
exist since bats exist…” (Boganeva 2012: 28, No. 2). On the other hand, the serpent can 
be clearly presented as an evil spirit, a means of enrichment for its masters – sorcerers.
5 The work of Pavel Shpilevsky under the pseudonym P. Drevlyansky “Belarusian Folk Traditions” has been 
repeatedly criticised because many characters were almost completely invented by the author (see Toporkov 
2002: 245-254; Levkyevskaya 2002: 311-351). However, as E. Levkyevskaya correctly notes, not all the 
characters described in the “Belarusian Folk Traditions” are fictions invented by Drevlyansky himself. Some 
belong to characters that really exist in Belarusian mythology and are described with sufficient correspondence 
to folk ideas (Levkyevskaya 2002: 318). One of these characters is Tsmok or an enrichment serpent.
95THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
aCTORS IN THE BELIEF NaRRaTIVES
Belief narratives convey behavioural instructions for how to cope with the situation, while 
a noticeable part of the narratives concerns how to make a kratt (which components are 
needed, what must be done, in what chronological order the actions have to be performed, 
and which verbal techniques to use). Some texts describe the behaviour of a servant or maid 
who discovers the kratt and either scares them away, insults them verbally, kicks them, 
or kills them. There are more characters in the story of spoiling the kratt’s porridge: the 
kratt’s feeder and the master or lady of the house, the servant, and the kratt. The kratt is 
active in both bringing in goods and breaking the contract and starting fires. Sometimes, 
in the final phase, the servant re-enters the game, throwing the kratt(s) who had escaped 
from the house into the fire as well, thereby destroying the evil creature.
One of the characters may be a mysterious merchant or salesman from Riga, and cer-
tainly the devil or a representative of evil forces in stories about acquisition of the kratt, 
as well as about the treasure-bearer as a miraculous and dangerous helper who constantly 
demands work; its appearance is connected with, for example, a book of witchcraft or 
The Seventh Book of Moses. 
Different actions hold various functions in the stories. The links between an action 
and an object are contrasting, and it is already clear from what was mentioned above that 
distinct characters are either active or passive in the stories.
1. activities related to acquiring a mythical creature are connected with a spatial loca-
tion. In most cases, there is a short introduction to present the setting, characters, and 
period of time. More often, the mythical being’s activities are related to a farm and 
the economy; some stories see it as working in the open air, in a barn, or in a shed. 
2. There are many texts in which a person passively observes the actions of a treas-
ure-bearer.
3. a person observes the actions of a treasure-bearer and actively tries to stop them: 
performs magical activities to stop a hostile action (cuts shoelaces, undoes buttons 
etc.) so that the treasure-bearer falls or drops what it is carrying.
4. Texts in which a person and the treasure-bearer take turns being active (making the 
treasure-bearer a story of spoiling the kratt’s porridge; if the conditions of the ‘agree-
ment’ are not met, the serpent destroys the farmer’s property).
Many stories describe fantastical elements of the tradition: a person who can turn into 
a treasure-bearer or a whirlwind, moves like light or in a physical form across the sky 
and cover distances quickly. The peculiarity of East Slavic and Finno-Ugric folklore is 
that unusual abilities can also be used by ordinary people either by imitating others or 
through the influence of new skills. 
96 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
THE TREaSURE-BEaRER aS PaRT OF THE CULTURaL SPaCE
The participation of mythical characters in professional culture and various art forms is a 
topical question. St. George, the patron saint of many Christian cities and countries, and 
especially his struggle with the dragon, which also symbolises the struggle of Christian-
ity with non-Christianity, paganism and evil, is depicted in both monuments and icons 
in many countries. In Estonia, such a monument, depicting St. George’s fight with the 
dragon, was erected near the Tori Church in Pärnu County in 2006 to mark Estonia’s 
victory in the War of Independence and the country’s regained independence. However, 
a large monument in the centre of Minsk has now become a memorial to those killed in 
the 2020 struggle for freedom, and has become an important national symbol. The statues 
of a tsmok (in a provincial town) and a dragon in a green area of Minsk in Belarus are 
related to different mindscapes. The statue of the dragon has a good-natured appearance 
and resembles recent media figures. This figure has also been painted as a sign of protest 
in the colours of the unofficial flag of Belarus. 
The mythical treasure-bearer, especially the kratt, holds a special role in Estonian 
professional culture where it is depicted in all media and art forms: ballet, musical forms, 
literature (including children’s books), productions, art, films, community art sculptures 
from handy natural materials, and staged performances captured in professional photo-
graphs. The kratt is reflected in company names, computer-software names etc. In other 
words, although its shape has changed, it is still part of today’s culture, having both 
humorous and serious roles.
LIMITED GOOD aND THE TREaSURE-BEaRER
In our analysis, we proceeded from legends and the storyworld and discarded the idea 
of placing the action in a concrete social environment. The purpose of a legend is not 
to provide a truthful description of events and experiences but to present an unusual 
experience and sometimes also moral dilemmas. While describing the material, we also 
considered the anthropologist George M. Foster’s theory of a limited good (1965), which 
was supplemented by John Kennedy (1966).
In the second half of the 19th century serfdom was abolished in Estonia and peo-
ple’s economic opportunities were improved. Peasants started to buy freehold title to 
farms. On their land lived cottagers who worked for the farmers, as well as the ‘farm’s 
proletariat’ – maids, farmhands, seasonal workers, herders, craftsmen etc. If we analyse 
the kratt stories from a social aspect, the kratt is usually owned by a farmer or his wife 
who communicate directly with them, yet in stories they are also made and obtained by 
poorer peasants and farmhands. 
The corpus of stories is implemented in very many registers: in addition to the serious 
discourse of legends, stories in the style of fantasy, humour, sarcasm etc. can also be 
heard. The voices heard also vary: young and old, women and men, representing various 
social strata. To some extent, the stories reveal the labour division between genders: milk 
97THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
magic on the farm is women’s sphere and women are more connected to it, whereas the 
grain-bearer is chiefly made by men, who also operate it. The fatal blow is delivered by 
young people – a farmhand or a maid. Either out of ignorance or dislike for the things seen 
(a cat vomiting milk into a pot), they ruin the magic practice, frighten the spirit off, kill 
it, or spoil its food. This kind of behaviour is displayed when a supernatural creature is 
encountered whose existence young people cannot interpret because they lack knowledge 
of the olden world and, even if some links emerge, they reprehend the use of witchcraft 
and magic. The postulate of many stories seems to be the warning that if you use a magic 
helper you can lose your life and riches following a brief period of wealth.
Narratives and beliefs about treasure-bearers are ambivalent as is the attitude to 
the treasure-bearers, yet there are no records of a documented boom in making treas-
ure-bearers and treasure-seeking, nor can we witness any economic development in the 
kratt stories (cf. Taylor 1986). Treasure-hunting stories are quite realistic, at the same 
time the treasure-bearers like kratt are attributed with highly fantastic capabilities of 
shape-shifting, soul-wandering and witchcraft. The action still takes place in the village 
and on an old-fashioned farm. The dwelling has only one floor, which in the 20th-century 
modern village became a sign of wealth, and the creature does not choose a town as its 
habitat. During the 200-year period when the stories were written down, technological 
development was at a standstill. There are no novel materials, the kratt is still made from 
old junk, and no laws of robotics are applied. 
In most cases, several explanations are possible. For example, moral choices, but also 
cases in which the motifs convey experience yet do not link the phenomenon with acquir-
ing wealth and other benefits; the treasure-bearer has no immediate connection with any 
person, and its existence is self-evident like snow or rain, an unexplained phenomenon. 
E. Boganeva recalls: “In 2013 I wrote down a story about the narrator’s mother walk-
ing through the forest and a black rooster following her. and the mother knew that if she 
threw something at the cock, it would crumble into a heap of gold. although they led a 
shabby life, the mother decided that she did not need this gold as it would come from evil 
spirits. She came out of the forest without throwing anything at the cock, and the latter 
disappeared. The narrator said that her mother was very religious, a Catholic. It means 
that the moral conflict let her give up wealth”. M. Kõiva added a conversation with her 
great-aunt’s husband, a miner, who was pondering some coloured balls of light moving 
about just above the ground in his home village near a town, heading for the attic of a 
wealthy farmhouse. “Kratts”, he guessed. “But they did not bring wealth. Cold light!”. 
In 1998, a female Setu singer described a treasure-bearer in the form of a window frame, 
a frame of light that followed her and then suddenly changed direction. 
CONCLUSION
a general rule is that the imagery of mythical creatures has changed over the centuries. The 
description of a demonic character (flying fire, a burning sheaf, various anthropomorphic 
and zoomorphic figures) is based on what it is carrying, or sucking. It is possible that 
98 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
different creatures have merged into one. Estonian Russians also associated the flying 
serpent with kratt, tont, haldjas – the Estonian demonic characters. The kratt here was 
made of various items and old junk, and then animated with sacramental wine secretly 
brought from a church. 
The perceptions of fiery serpents among Belarusians and Estonian Russians are similar 
to the Lithuanian beliefs about aitvaras, a flying spirit that brings wealth and emerges 
from an egg laid by a 3- or 7-year-old rooster. 
The imaginations and stories associated with these names have changed following the 
development of the lived folk religion and are changing, developing local circumstances 
and new international motifs like UFOs to replace the treasure-bearer. 
When we compared the traditional Belarusian perceptions of flying serpents of enrich-
ment with those of Estonian Russians reflected in archival records from the 1920–1940s 
preserved by the Estonian Literary Museum, we found several similarities in the descrip-
tion of: (a) the appearance of the demonic character (flying fire, a burning sheaf etc.; the 
serpent changes its colours, brightness and shape based on what it is carrying); (b) the 
mutual actions of the serpent of enrichment and the master it serves (the man feeds the 
serpent, the serpent enriches its master; if the conditions of the ‘agreement’ are not met, 
the serpent destroys its master’s property). as concerns the origin of the serpent of enrich-
ment, some texts from Estonian and Votic narratives contain an ancient mythical layer of 
motifs about the serpent having emerged from a rooster’s egg that a person had to carry 
beneath their clothing for 1 to 3 years. In the tales of Estonian Russians and Estonians, 
the serpent usually appears as a result of a man’s deal with evil spirits (selling their soul 
to the devil, signing their name in blood etc.). In addition, Estonian Russians identified 
the flying serpent with a kratt, an Estonian demonic character. In this case, the animated 
kratt was made from various items of old junk, and then brought to life with sacramental 
wine secretly brought from a church. In Estonian tradition, one of the most important 
hypostases is the animated treasure-bearer and helper. This creature finds parallels in many 
cultures, including in Northern Europe. Further, the complex of Estonian milk magic as 
well as the ‘milk tick’ or ‘milk-bearer’ has a wide cultural background. Estonian lore is 
characterised by close relationships with the Baltic-Finnic and Swedish lore as well as 
the Slavic and German traditions; yet, there are also considerable historical and cultural 
differences in the gender aspect or differences in animal-shaped treasure-bearers. 
aCKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is part of the research project “Narrative and belief aspects of folklore studies” 
of the Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum (EKM 8-2/20/3), 
and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of 
Excellence in Estonian Studies, TK-145).
99THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
SOURCES
Estonian Literary Museum:
Estonian Folklore archives – manuscripts H, E, ERa, RKM, EKS
ERa, Vene – The Russian archives, 17 volumes
Skriptoorium – Digital archives and tool, Department of Folkloristrics, ELM
Centre for the Study of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature of the National academy of 
Sciences of Belarus: 
BFELa — Database of Belarusian folklore and ethnolinguistics
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ДУХИ-ОБОГАТИТЕЛИ В ВОСТОЧНО-СЛАВЯНСКОМ И ФИННО-
УГОРСКОМ КОНТЕКСТАХ
Mare Kõiva, elena Boganeva
Целью статьи является представление результатов сравнительного и структурно-
семантического исследования верований и текстов о духах-обогатителях, 
в том числе в образе летающего/огненного змея, в восточнославянском 
103THE TREaSURE-BEaRER IN EaST SLaVIC aND FINNO-UGRIC CONTExTS
фольклоре и финно-угорских традициях (эстонской, водской, ливонской, 
финской, вепсской) в связи с прибалтийскими и скандинавскими верованиями 
об этих персонажах. 
Статья опирается как на опубликованные фольклорные тексты 19-
21 вв. белорусов, русских, в меньшей степени украинцев, так и на не 
публиковавшиеся ранее архивные коллекции записей 19-20 вв. русских 
Эстонии, эстонцев, финнов, ливонцев, водов, вепсов, которые содержатся 
в Эстонском литературном музее.    
Огненный змей в белорусских традиционных представлениях существует 
до сегодняшнего дня в двух воплощениях: духа-обогатителя и мифического 
любовника, при том нередко змей в роли мифического любовника выступает 
одновременно и в качестве духа-обогатителя. В области терминологии (названий) 
у белорусов преимущественно преобладают описательные номинации: 
огненный/летающий (летучий) змей, но чаще всего — просто «змей». На 
северо-западе Беларуси встречается мифологический персонаж хут. По своим 
функциональным характеристикам хут во многом подобен змею-обогатителю 
(летающему, огненному), однако хут — полиморфный демон, с чертами 
домового и хлевника. Еще один белорусский персонаж, близкий к огненному 
змею и хуту — цмок — дракон. Белорусский огненный змей также близок к 
литовскому айтварасу — летающему огненному змею, носящему богатство. 
Айтварас — полиморфный демон, может являться в образе огненного петуха, 
вороны, реже кошки. На северо-западной Гродненщине среди белорусских 
литовцев он известен под именем айтварас, а также под именами скальсининкас, 
кутас, хутас, реже — шкутас, спарыжус, парыжус, дамавікас.  
На имена летучих змей у эстонских русских, во многом повлияла их 
близость к эстонцам и их мифология: пуук (носитель, клещ), насок («тот, 
кто несет»), tont (призрак), lendva (летающий предмет, ведьмина стрела, 
мифическая болезнь); кратт (носитель); алдьяс (защитник, дух); пывш/пюч, 
пывш, пувчиш/пуктыш, пуксиш, пуксик (разные варианты пуук или носитель). 
Пукис также известен в традициях Латвии, Литвы, Западной России, близкой 
к прибалтийским республикам. 
В эстонском языке для мифического обогатителя существует около 30 
различных терминов или местных названий. Эстонский термин – pisuhänd 
– относится к образу огненного змея. Почти одинаково популярны пять 
терминов, причем эти термины и их вариации в разных диалектах широко 
используются: kratt («носитель»), pisuhänd (носитель, огненный хвост, 
искрящийся хвост); puuk (сосущий); tont (призрак); vedaja (носитель, клад) — 
все они являются носителями сокровищ, или иногда их называют носителями 
зерна, молочных продуктов, денег или рыбы. Пуук — заимствование из 
шведского (блевать) или из нижненемецкого (spōk, spūk — привидение, 
привидение, потустороннее существо). Тонт — это термин не только для 
обозначения духа-обогатителя, но и для неопределенного сверхъестественного 
существа, злого духа, чудовища, призрака. 
104 MaRE KõIVa, ELENa BOGaNEVa
Происхождение летающих змеев-обогатителей у белорусов и русских 
Эстонии обычно связывается с колдовством и колдунами. У эстонских 
русских змеи-обогатители в основном отождествляются с бесами, поэтому 
об их происхождении говорят как о результате сделки между бесами и 
знающими людьми (колдунами). 
Что касается Кратта, то он является рукотворным произведением человека 
из хлама и негодных вещей. Для того, чтобы оживить это изделие человека, 
выполняют магические манипуляции с причастием, принесенным из церкви. 
Последний мотив имеет распространение у эстонцев, финнов, эстонских 
русских. 
У белорусов до начала 21 века сохранился древний пласт представлений 
о змеях-обогатителях, которые часто считаются разновидностью домашних 
духов. Так, происхождение змея связывается с петушиным яйцом, которое 
вынашивается человеком. Такой мотив происхождения леучих змеев широко 
известен также в других славянских ареалах. В терминологии западных 
украинцев, верования которых близки к белорусским, змей-обогатитель 
называется «годованец» или «вихованок», что дословно означает «воспитанник».
Кроме того в статье составлено описание духов-обогатителей (летающих/
огненных змеев) по следующим признакам: внешний вид, темпоральные 
характеристики, локус обитания, действия персонажа по отношению к людям 
(активные/пассивные) и действия людей по отношению к персонажу (в том 
числе предписания, запреты, обереги). Рассматривается диапазон восприятия 
персонажей (от нечистой силы, инфернального существа до духа-помощника), 
образы духов-обогатителей (летающих змеев) в современном культурном 
пространстве. 
Ключевые слова: летающий/огненный змей, дух-обогатитель, кратт, 
магия, молочная/рыболовная магия 
Mare Kõiva, Ph.D., research professor and head of the Department of 
Folkloristics, Estonian Literary Museum, Vanemuise 42, EE-51003 
Tartu, mare@folklore.ee
Elena Boganeva, Ph.D., head of the Department of the Ethnolinguistic 
and folklore, Center for Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature 
Research, National academy of Sciences, Surhanava St., 1, Bldg. 2, BY-
220072, Minsk, elboganeva@gmail.com