A kobold (pronounced as /de/; kobolt, kobolde, kobolde, cobold) is a general or generic name for the household spirit in German folklore. A hausgeist.
It may invisibly make noises (i.e., be a poltergeist), or helpfully perform kitchen chores or stable work. But it can be a prankster as well. It may expect a bribe or offering of milk, etc. for its efforts or good behaviour. When mistreated (cf. fig. right), its reprisal can be utterly cruel.
A German: hütchen (nds|[[hodeken]]) meaning "little hat" is one subtype; this and other kobold sprites are known for its pointy red cap, such as the niss (cognate of nisse of Norway) or puk (cognate of puck fairy) which are attested in Northern Germany, alongside drak, a dragon-type name, as the sprite is sometimes said to appear as a shaft of fire, with what looks like a head. There is also the combined form Nis Puk.
A house sprite Hinzelmann is a shape-shifter assuming many forms, such as a feather or animals. The name supposedly refers to it appearing in cat-form, Hinz[e] being an archetypical cat name. The similarly named Heinzelmänchen of Cologne (recorded 1826) is distinguished from Hinzelmann.
The Schrat is cross-categorized as a wood sprite and a house sprite, and some regional examples correspond to kobold, e.g., Upper Franconia in northern Bavaria. The kobold is sometimes conflated with the mine demon kobel or Bergmännlein/Bergmännchen, which Paracelsus equated with the earth elemental gnome. It is generally noted that there can be made no clear demarcation between a kobold and nature spirits.
The Klabautermann aboard ships are sometimes classed as a kobold.
A kobold is known by various names (discussed under). As a household spirit, it may perform chores such as tidying the kitchen, but can be prankish, and when mistreated can resort to retribution, sometimes of the utmost cruelty. It is often said to require the household to put out sweet milk (and bread, bread soup) as offering to keep it in good behaviour.
The legend of the house sprite's retribution is quite old. The tale of the hütchen (or hodekin in Low German, meaning "little hat"; tale retold as Grimms Deutsche Sagen No. 74) is set in the historical background after c. 1130, and attested in a work c. 1500. This sprite that haunted the castle of the Bishop of Hildesheim, retaliated against a kitchen boy who splashed filthy water on it (Cf. fig. top right) by leaving the lad's dismembered body cooking in a pot. Likewise the resident German: Chimmeken of Mecklenburg Castle, in 1327, allegedly chopped up a kitchen boy into pieces after he took and drank the milk offered to the sprite, according to an anecdote recorded by historian Thomas Kantzow (d. 1542).
The story of the "multi-formed" Hinzelmann (Grimms DS No. 75) features a typical house sprite, tidying the kitchen, repaying insolence, etc. Though normally invisible, it is a shapeshifter as its byname suggests. When the lord of Hudemühlen Castle flees to Hanover, the sprite transforms into a feather to follow the horse carriage. It also appears as a marten and serpent after attempts at expelling it.
A kobold by the similar name Heintzlein (Heinzlein) was recorded by Martin Luther. Although a group of house sprite names (Heinz, Heinzel, Heinzchen, Heinzelman, Hinzelman, Hinzemännchen, etc.) are considered to derive from diminutive pet name of "Heinrich", the name Hinzelmann goes deeper, and alludes to the spirit appearing in the guise of a cat, the name Hinz[e] being an archetypical name for cats. Also Hinzelmann and Heinzelmänchen of Cologne are considered different house sprites altogether, the latter categorized as one of "literary" nature. The house sprite names Chim or Chimken, Chimmeken, etc. are diminutive informal names of Joachim.
But its true form is often said to be that of a small child, sometimes only felt to be as such by the touch of the hand, but sometimes a female servant eager to see it is shown a dead body of a child (cf. Hinzelmann). The folklore was current in some regions, e.g. Vogtland that the kobold was the soul of a child who died unbaptized. The Grimms (Deutsche Sagen) also seconded the notion of "kobold" appearing as a child wearing a pretty jacket, but Jacob Grimm (Deutsche Mythologie) stated contrarily that kobolds are red-haired and red-bearded, without examples. Later commentators noted that the house sprite Petermännchen sports a long, white beard. The Klabautermann is red-haired and white-bearded according to a published source.
The kobold often has the tendency to wear red pointy hats, a widely disseminated mark of European household spirits under other names such as the Norwegian nisse; the North or Northeastern German kobolds named Niss or Puk (cog. puck) are prone to wearing such caps. The combined form Nis Puk is also known. In the north the house sprite may be known by the dragon-like name German: drak, said to appear in a form like a fire shaft.
Sometimes household sprites manifests as a noisemaker (poltergeist). It may first be such a rattler, then an invisible speaker, then a sprite doing chores, etc. and gradually making its presence and personality more clear (see Hintzelmann tale). In some regions, the kobold is held to be the soul of a prematurely killed child .
They may be hard to eradicate, but it is often said that a gift of an article of clothing will cause them to leave.
The klopfer is a "noisemaker" or poltergeist type of kobold name, while the poppele and butz (which Grimm and others considered to be noise inspired) are classed as names referring to a doll or figurine.
The name kobold itself might be classed in this "doll" type group, as the earliest instances of use of the word kobold in 13th century Middle High German refers jokingly to figurines made of wood or wax,[1] and the word assumptively also meant "household spirit" in MHG, and certainly something of a "household deity" in the post-medieval period (gloss dated 1517).
The etymology of kobold that Grimm supported derived the word from Latin cobalus (Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόβαλος,), but this was also Georg Agricola's Latin/Greek cypher for kobel, syn. denoting mine spirits, i.e. gnome. This Greek etymology has been superseded by the Germanic one explaining the word as the compound kob/kof 'house, chamber' + walt 'power, authority' (cf. cobalt#etymology).
The gütel has a variant German: heugütel, a hayloft or stable kobold, which tampers with horses.
The "kobold" is defined as the well-known household spirit, descended from household gods and hearth deities, according to Grimms' dictionary.
However, Middle High German "German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: kóbolt, kobólt" is defined as "wooden or waxen figures of a nixie-ish (neckische) house spirit", used in jest.[2]
The term "kobold" was being used as general or generic term for "house spirit" known by other names even before Grimm, e.g., Erasmus Francisci (1690) who discusses the hütchen tale under the section on "Kobold". The book Hintzelmann (published 1701, second edition 1704) was an expanded reworking by an anonymous author, based on the older-dated diaries of Pastor Feldmann (fl. 1584–1589) also used "kobold" and "poltergeist" in commentary,[3] but this cannot be considered an independent source since the book (i.e., the rewriter) cites Erasmus Francisci elsewhere. Both these were primary sources for the kobold tales in Grimms' Deutsche Sagen, No. 74, 75.
Praetorius (1666) discussed the household spirit under names such as German: Hausmann (dat. pl. German: haußmännern, kobold, gütgen, and Latin equivalents.
Steier (1705) glossing kobold as "Spiritus familiaris" perhaps indicates kobold being considered a generic term.
It is a relatively late vocabularius where kobelte is glossed as (i.e., analogized as) the Roman house and hearth deities "Lares" and Penates, as in Trochus (1517), or "kobold" with "Latin: Spiritus familiaris" as in Steier (1705).
While the term "kobold" is attested in Middle High German glossaries,[2] they may not corroborate a "house spirit" meaning. The terms German: kobult together with German: bancstichil, alp, more to gloss Latin: procubus in Diefenbach's source (Breslauer's Vocabularius, 1340) may (?) suggest "kobold" being regarded more like an alp and mare which are dream demons.
But indications are that these Germanic household deities were current in the older periods, attested by Anglo-Saxon cofgodu (glossed "penates") [1] and Old High German (Old Frankish) goh|hûsing, herdgota for house or hearth deities also glossed as penates.
Otto Schrader also observed that "cult of the hearth-fire" developed into "tutelary house deities, localized in the home", and the German kobold and the Greek agathós daímōn both fit this evolutionary path.
The kobalt etymology as consisting of kob "chamber" + walt "ruler, power, authority", with the meaning of "household spirit" has been advanced by various authors, as early as (1861–1864) who postulated a form German: *kobwalt, quoted in Grimms' dictionary. Other writers such as Müller-Fraureuth (1906) also weighed in on the question of its etymology.
Other linguists such as Otto Schrader (1908) suggested ancestral (Old High German) German: *kuba-walda "the one who rules the house". Dowden (2002) offers the hypothetical precursor German: *kofewalt.
The kob/kub/kuf- root is possibly related to Old Norse/Icelandic: kofe "chamber", or Old High German: chubisi "house". and the English word "cove" in the sense of 'shelter'.
This is now accepted as the standard etymology. Even though the Grimm brothers were aware of it, Jacob Grimm seemingly endorsed a different etymology, though this eventually got displaced.
There are no attested uses of the word "kobold" (Middle High German: kobolt) prior to the 13th century. Grimm opines that earlier uses may have existed, but remain undiscovered or lost.[5]
The earliest known uses of the word kobold in 13th century Middle High German refer jokingly to figurines made of wood or wax.[1] The exemplum in Konrad von Würzburg's poem (<1250) refers to a man as worthless as a kobold-doll made from boxwood.
This use does not directly support the notion of the kobold being regarded as a spirit or deity. The scenario conjectured by Grimm (seconded by Karl Simrock in 1855) was that home sprites used to be carved from wood or wax and set up in the house, as objects of earnest veneration, but as the age progressed, they degraded into humorous or entertaining pieces of décor.[6]
Thomas Keightley comments that legends and folklore about kobolds can be explained as "ventriloquism and the contrivances of servants and others".
The 17th century expression to laugh like a kobold may refer to these dolls with their mouths wide open, and it may mean "to laugh loud and heartily".[8]
There are other medieval literary examples using kobold or tatrmann as a metaphor for mute or dumb human beings.
Note that some of the kobold synonyms are specifically classified as Kretinnamen, under the slander for stupidity category in the HdA, as aforementioned.
Joseph Grimm in Teutonic Mythology gave the etymology of kobold/kobolt as derived from Latin cobalus (pl. cobali) or rather its antecedent Greek koba'los (pl. kobaloi; grc|Κόβαλος, plural: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Κόβαλοι) meaning "joker, trickster". The final -olt he explained as typical German language suffix for monsters and supernaturals.
The derivation of kobold from Greek kobalos is not original to Grimm, and he credits Ludwig Wachler (1737).
Thus the generic "goblin" is a cognate of "kobold" according to Grimm's etymology, and perhaps even a descendant word deriving from "kobold".[9] The Dutch kabout, kabot, kabouter, kaboutermanneken, etc., were also regarded as deriving from cabolus by Grimm, citing Dutch linguist Cornelis Kiliaan.
Jacob Grimm certainly knew that kobel and Bergmännlein (=Bergmännchen) were the proper terms Agricola used for "mine spirits" since his Deutsche Mythologie quoted these terms from Georgius Agricola (16th cent.) in the annotation volume.[10] }
But Grimms' dictionary, while admitting that the mine spirit went by the name kobel, considered that word merely to be a variant or offshoot of kobold (for the house spirit). The dictionary stated under "kobold" that kobel must be a diminutive cognate). And under "kobalt" it considered the name of cobalt ore derived from the supposed mischief caused by the kobold or (mountain manikin, mountain spirit) in these mines.
Thus unsurprisingly, later writers have continued referring to mine spirits as "kobolds", or to consider "kobold" to be both house spirit and mine spirit in a wider sense (cf.,). At any rate it is recognized that the original "house spirit" kobold got conflated with the "mine spirit", also known as kobel.
Spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten (1884) recorded a story about a "kobolds" in the mines who communicated with local German residents (of Harz Mountains?) using banging sounds, and fulfilled the promise to visit their homes. Extracted as real-life experience from a Mrs. Kalodzky, who was visiting peasants named Dorothea and Michael Engelbrecht. As promised, these kobolds appeared in the house in shadow as small human-like figures "more like a little image carved out of black shining wood". The informant claims she and her husband have both seen the beings since, and described them as "diminutive black dwarfs about two or three feet in height, and at that part which in the human being is occupied by the heart, they carry the round luminous circle", and the sighting of the circle is more common than the dwarfish beings.
A geographical map of Germany labeled with the different regional appellations has appeared in a 2020 publication.
Grimm, after stating that the list of kobold (or household spirit) in German lore can be long, also adds the names German: Hütchen and German: Heinzelmann.
The term kobold in its earliest usage suggest it to be a wooden doll (Cf. §Origins under below). A synonym for kobold in that sense includes Tatrmann, which is also attested in the medieval period.
What is clear is that these kobold dolls were puppets used in plays and by travelling showmen, based on 13th century writings. They were also known as German: tatrmann and described as manipulated by wires. Either way, the idol or puppet was invoked rhetorically in writing by the minstrels, etc. to mock clergymen or other people.
The household spirit names German: poppele and German: butz were thought by Grimm to derive from noise-making, but the HdA considers them to be doll names. The poppele is thought to be the German word Puppe for doll.[11] The term Butz meanwhile could refer to a "tree trunk", and by extension either "overgrown" or "little", or "stupid" thus is cross-categorized as an example of "cretin names" (category B).[12] Ranke suggests the meaning of German: Klotz ("klutz, hunk of wood") or a "small being", with a "noisemaker ghost" is possible by descent from MHG German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: bôzen "to beat, strike".
While the MHG dictionary defines German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: Butze as a "knocking[-sound making] kobold" or poltergeist, or frightening form,[13] Grimm thinks that all MHG usage treats butze as a type of bogey or scarecrow (German: Popanz und Vogelscheuch).[14] So in some sense, Butz[''e''] is simply a generic bogeyman (German: Butzemann). And butz[''e''], while nominally a kobold (house spirit), is almost a generic term for all kinds of spectres in the Alps region.
The East Central German name German: gütel or German: güttel (diminutive of "god", i.e. "little god", var. German: heugütel) has been suggested as a kobold synonym of the fetish figurine type. Grimm knew the term but placed the discussion of it under the "Wild man of the woods" section[15] conjecturing the use of güttel as synonymous to German: götze (i.e., sense of 'idol') in medieval heroic legend. The term gütel answers to Agricola's guteli (in Latin) as an alternate common name for the mine spirit (bergmännlein).
The HdA categorizes German: Alrune as a dragon name. In English, "mandrake" is easily seen as a "-drake" or "dragon" name. In German, a reference needs be made to the Latin form mandragora where -dragora came to be regarded as meaning a dragon.
Since the mandrake do not natively grown in Germany, the so-called Alrune dolls were manufactured out of the available roots such as bryony of the gourd family, gentian, and tormentil (Blutwurz). The lore surrounding them is thus more like a charm whose possession brought luck and fortune, supposedly through the agency of some spirit, rather than a house-haunting kobold. The alraune doll was also known by names such as German: glücksmännchen (generic name for such dolls) and German: galgenmännlein. It is a mistake to consider such alraun dolls as completely equivalent to the kobald, the household spirit, in Grimm's opinion.
But the kobold kind known as Alrune (Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: alrûne) did indeed exist locally in the folklore of the north, in Saterland, Lower Saxony. Alrune was also recognized as a kobold-name in Friesland, and even Switzerland.
The aforementioned butz may allude to a wooden object, or a "dolt" by extension. The Schrat (Schratte) is also formally categorized as a "cretin name" type of kobold nomenclature in the HdA. However, the term Schrat and its variants has remained current in the sense of "house spirit" only in certain parts such as "southeast Germany": more specifically northern Bavaria including the Upper Palatinate, Fichtel Mountains, Vogtland (into Thuringia), and Austria (Styria and Carinthia) according to the various sources the HdA cites.[16]
The tale "Schrätel und wasserbär" (kobold and polar bear) had been recorded in Middle High German, and is recognized as a "genuine" kobold tale. The tale is set in Denmark, whose king received the gift of a polar bear and lodges at a peasant's house infested by a "schretel". But it is driven away by the ferocious bear, which the spirit thinks is a "big cat". Obviously Scandinavian origin is suspected, with the Norwegian version retaining the polar bear which turns into other beasts in Central European variants. Old Norse/Icelandic meaning "sorcerer, giant" has been listed as cognate forms.
There exists a version of this water-bear tale, set in Bad Berneck im Fichtelgebirge, Upper Franconia, where a holzfräulein has been substituted for the schrätel, and the haunting occurring at a miller's, and the "big cat" dispatching the spirit.[17] Still, the forms German: schrezala and German: schretselein seemed to be current around Fichtelgebirge (Fichtel Mountains), or at least in Upper Franconia region as a sprite haunting a house or stable. The schrezala form is recognized in Vogtland also.
Thus schretzelein is marked in Upper Franconia (around Hof, Bavaria) in the location map above, based on additional sources. A German: schretzchen reputedly haunted a household at near Teuschnitz, Upper Franconia, and tended to cattle, washed the dishes, and put out the fire. But when the mistress of the house well-intendedly gave the gift of clothing to the spirit who looked like a six-year old, it exclaimed it had been now been given payment and must now leave. However, the forms German: schrägele, schragerln are marked in Upper Franconia and German: schretzelein in Lower Franconia on Schäfer et al.'s map.
Forms of schrat as kobold also occurs in Poland as skrzat, glossed in a c. 1500 dictionary as a household spirit (Polish: duchy rodowe), also known by variant skrot. The Czech forms (standardized as Czech: škrat, škrátek, škrítek) could mean a kobold, but could also denote a "mine spirit" or a hag.
See also: hypocorism.
There is a roster of names of kobolts or little folk derived from shortened affectionate forms of human names, including Chimken (Joachim),Wolterken (Walter), Niss (Nils).[18]
While Hinz, Hinzelmann, Heinz are categorized as C subtype "beast-shape names" (cat-shape names) in the HdA (Cf., below),
The HdA does not explicitly include the child-sprite Heintzlein (Heinzlein) mentioned by Martin Luther in his Table Talk, which turns out to be the spirit of the unwanted child murdered by its mother (a motif seen by kobolds elsewhere). This spirit is renamed "Heinzchen" in Heine's exposition,[19] and perhaps also in Grimm's Deutsche Sagen No. 71 as well.[20]
Grimm also lists other variant spellings (German: heinzelman, hinzelman, hinzemännchen) to be considered together. Grimm's commentary then mentions Heinze as a mountain sprite (Berggeist, gnome) in Rollenhagen's Froschmeuseler, Heinze being a diminutive (or rather more properly the affectionate shortened forms, or hypocorism) of Heinrich.
The kobold Heinzelmännchen (another diminutive of Heinrich) is particularly associated with Cologne, is actually separated out as a "Category H Literary name" in the HdA, apparently regarded as a late literary invention or reconstruction. The Heinzelmännchen is also clearly distinguished from the Hinzelmann in current scholarship, according to modern linguist Elmar Seebold, though they may have beeninterchangeably discussed in the past. Accordingly, a mix of heinzelman, hinzelman" were given as "pet name (shortened human name)" type of kobold names by Grimm, (cf. below and the daughter article Heinzelmännchen).
Chimke (var. Chimken, Chimmeken), diminutive of Joachim is a Niederdeutsch for a poltergeist; the story of "Chimmeken" dates to c. 1327 and recorded in Thomas Kantzow's Pomeranian chronicle (cf.).[21] Chimgen (Kurd Chimgen), and Chim are other forms.[22]
Wolterken, also Low German, is diminutive for Walther, and another piece of household spirit of the pet name type, Wolterken glossed as "lares" and attested together with "German: chimken" and "German: hußnißken" in (1587) Panurgia lamiarum.
Nis (Niß) is also explained to be a northern pet name for Nils.
Under the classification of household spirit names based on appearance, a subcategory collects names based on apparel, especially the hat (classification C. a), under which are listed German: Hütchen, Timpehut, Langhut, etc. and even German: Hellekeplein, which is one of the names of a cap or cloak of invisibility.[23] To this group belongs the Low Saxon form hôdekin (nds|[[Hödekin]]) of the house sprite Hütchen from Hildesheim, which wears a felt hat (la|[[Pileus (hat)|pileus]]). Grimm also adds the names German: Hopfenhütel, Eisenhütel.
The kobold Hinzelmann or Hintzelmann is completely distinguishable from the "literary" kobold Heinzelmännchen according to modern scholarship (cf.).
And while the name Heinzelmann (Heinzelmännchen) is forged from diminutives of Heinrich, more importantly, the names Hinzelmann, Heinzelman (or German: Hinzelman, Hinzemännchen, etc.,) are names alluding to the kobold's frequent cat-like shape or transformation, and categorized Under type C "Appearance-based", subtype "beast-shape based names" in the HdA. The analysis is expounded upon by Jacob Grimm, who notes that Hinze was the name of the cat in the Reineke (German version of Reynard the Fox) so it was the common pet name for cats. Thus hinzelman, hinzemännchen are recognized as cat-based names, to be grouped with German: katermann (from kater "") which may be precursor to tatermann.
The katzen-veit named after a cat is categorized by Grimm as a "wood sprite", but also discussed under kobold, and classed as a "cat appearance" type kobold name (category C b) in HdA. Grimm localized the katzen-veit at Fichtelberg, and Prateorius also recognized this as the lore of the Vogtland region, though Praetorius's work published (1692) under the pseudonym Lustigero Wortlibio claims katzen-veit to be a famous "cabbage spirit" in the Hartzewalde (in Elbingerode, now part of Oberharz am Brocken in the Harz mountains, cf. map).
The Hitzelmann that haunted Hudemühlen Castle in Lower Saxony was described at length by Pastor Feldmann Der vielförmige Hintzelmann (1704). As the title suggests, this Hinzelmann was a many and varied shapeshifter, transforming into a white feather, or a marten, or a serpent. (cf.).
The kobold appears in the guise of a cat to eat the panada bribe, in Saintine's version.
The HdA’s category D consists of kobold names from their behavioural characteristics, and other than some non-German sprites discussed, these are mainly the poltergeists, or noise-making spirits (otherwise, they are names derived after their favourite dish, cf. below). The poltergeists include the German: klopfer ("knocker"), German: hämmerlein, etc.
Some poltergeists had been assumed to be named after their noise-making nature in the past, but HdA re-categorized them otherwise as puppet names. So rather than taking German: poppele to be a form of German: Puppe "doll", Grimm argued that the poltergeist German: pophart (or German: popart) and German: poppele (regionally also German: popel, pöpel, pöplemann, popanz, etc.) were related to verb German: popern meaning to 'soft-knock or thump repeatedly' (or German: popeln, German: boppeln "noisemaking"), with a side meaning of a 'muffled (masked, covered-up) ghost to frighten children'.[24]
Likewise, though Grimm thought German: butz was reference to noise, even though butz seems to refer to a "tree trunk" and thus, had been classed as A for doll-name by HdA.[12]
Rumpelstilzchen of Grimms' KHM No. 55 (as well as the Rumpelstilt mentioned by Johann Fischart) are discussed as a poltergeist type of kobold by Grimm as well, though not formally admitted under this poltergeist category of kobold names in the HdA. The name Rumpelstilts is composed of German: Rumpel meaning "(crumpled) noise" and German: Stilz, Stilt with several meanings such as "stilts", a pair of poles used as extension of legs.
In category D, there are names deriving from their favorite food being the bowl of milk, namely German: napfhans ("Potjack")and the Swiss German: beckli meaning "milk vat" (cf.).
See main article: Heinzelmännchen.
The Heinzelmännchen of Cologne resemble short, naked men. Like typical house sprites, they were said to perform household chores such as baking bread, laundry, etc. But they remained beyond sight of humans. According to Ernst Weyden (1826), bakers in the city until the late 18th century never needed hired help because, each night, the kobolds known made as much bread as a baker could need. However, the people of the various shops could not suppress their curiosity at seeing them, and schemed to see them. A tailor's wife strewed peas on the stairs to trip up and hope to see them. Such endeavors caused the sprites to disappear from all the shops in Cologne, before around the year 1780.
This house sprite is included as kobold, but is considered a literary retelling, based on the fact the knowledge about the sprite had been spread by August Kopisch's ballad (1836).[25]
Other house spirits categorized as "K. Other names" by the HdA are German: mönch, German: herdmannl, German: schrackagerl. The mönch lore is widespread from Saxony to Bavaria.[26]
King Goldemar, king of dwarfs, is also re-discussed under the household spirit commentary by Grimm, presumably because he became a guest to the human king Neveling von Hardenberg at his Castle Hardenstein for three years, making a dwarf sort of a household spirit on a limited-term basis.
For cognate beings of kobolds or house spirits in non-German cultures, see .
The kobold is linked to a specific household. Some legends claim that every house has a resident kobold, regardless of its owners' desires or needs. The means by which a kobold enters a new home vary from tale to tale.
Should someone take pity on a kobold in the form of a cold, wet creature and take it inside to warm it, the spirit takes up residence there. A tradition from Perleberg in northern Germany says that a homeowner must follow specific instructions to lure a kobold to their house. They must go on St John's Day between noon and one o'clock, into the forest. When they find an anthill with a bird on it, they must say a certain phrase, which causes the bird to transform into a small human. The figure then leaps into a bag carried by the homeowner, and they can then transfer the kobold to their home.[27] Even if servants come and go, the kobold stays.
House kobolds usually live in the hearth area of a house, although some tales place them in less frequented parts of the home, in the woodhouse,[28] in barns and stables, or in the beer cellar of an inn. At night, such kobolds do chores that the human occupants neglected to finish before bedtime:[29] They chase away pests, clean the stables, feed and groom the cattle and horses, scrub the dishes and pots, and sweep the kitchen. The German: wolterkens, wolterken is described as a spirit that scrapes the horse (that is to say, with the currycomb or in German, Striegel) in their stalls, feeds the swine to fatten them, and draws water and carries it over to the cattle to drink.
Other kobolds help tradespeople and shopkeepers.
Kobolds are spirits and, as such, part of a spiritual realm. However, as with other European spirits, they often dwell among the living. The spirit's doings, and how humans interact will be discussed further below
Kobolds can take on the appearance of children, be dressed a certain way, or manifest as non-human animals, fire, humans, and objects. This is further discussed below
There seems to be contradictory opinion on whether a kobold should be generally regarded as boyish looking, or more elderly and bearded. An earlier edition (1819) of the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie gives the childlike description, however, a later edition (1885) amends to the view of an elderly looking kobold, with a beard. Yet actual instances of a bearded household kobold seems to concentrate on one lone example or two.
The lore that a kobold, when spotted is often seen as a young child wearing a pretty jacket is presented in Grimms Deutsche Sagen (1816), No.71 "Kobold".[30] And a cherubic, winged child illustration occurs in the 1704 printed book narrative of the kobold, Hintzelmann (cf. right).
The bearded look was underscored by Jacob Grimm's Deutsche Mythlogie where the kobold was ascribed red hair and beard, without specific examples. Simrock summarized that "they" (apparently applying broadly to dwarfs, house spirits, wood sprites, and subterranean folk tend to have red hair and red beard, as well as red clothing. The example of Petermännchen of Schwerin is a story that mentions its white beard,[31] and an instance of a kobold from Mecklenburg, with long white beard and wearing a hood () mentioned by Golther is in fact Petermännchen also. The klabautermann which some reckon to be a ship-kobold has been purported to have a fiery red head of hair and white beard.
On the kobold assuming the guise of small children, there is a piece of lore that the kobolds are the spirits of dead children and often appear with a knife that represents the means by which they were put to death. Cf.
Other tales describe kobolds appearing as herdsmen looking for work[32] and little, wrinkled old men in pointed hoods.[29]
One 19th century source claimed mine kobolds with black skin were seen by her and her husband multiple times. (cf.).
Kobolds supposedly also tend to wear a pointy red hat, though Grimm acknowledges that the "red peaky cap" is also the mark of the Norwegian nisse. Grimm mentions the spirit known as German: hütchen (meaning "little hat" of felt, cf.) immediately after, perhaps as an example of such a cap-wearer.
The kobold wearing a red cap and protective pair of boots is reiterated by, e.g., Wolfgang Golther. Grimm describes household spirits owning fairy shoes or fairy boots, which permits rapid travel over difficult terrain, and compares it to the league boots of fairytale.
There is lore concerning the infant-sized niss-puk (German: Niß Puk, Nisspuk var. Neß Puk, where Puk is cognate to English puck) wearing (pointed) red caps localized in various part of the province of Schleswig-Holstein, in northernmost Germany adjoining Denmark.[33]
Karl Müllenhoff provided the "kobold" lore of the German: Schwertmann of Schleswig-Holstein, in his anthology, this tale localized at Rethwisch, Steinburg (Krempermarsch).[34] The Schwertmann was said to dwell in a German: dönnerkuhle (or donnerloch, "thunder pit", i.e., pit in the ground said to be caused by lightning), which Müllenhoff insists was a "large water pit".[34] It would emerge from this pit-hole and perpetrate mischief on villagers, but could also (try to) be helpful. It could appear in the guise of fire, and appreciated the gift of shoes, though his burning feet quickly turns them into tatters.[34]
"possibly earlier, if only we had authorities". Cf. note 4.
lachen als ein kobold, p. 424 "koboldische lachen"; "laugh like a kobold", p. 512 tr. as "goblin laughter".
"sprites have.. power.. of vaninshing or making themselves invisible,.. nebelkappen.. helkeplein, etc."
Category H. Literarische Namen.