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Likho, liho (Russian: Лихо, Belarusian: лі́ха, Polish: licho) is an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in Slavic mythology, a creature with one eye, often depicted as an old, skinny woman in black (Лихо одноглазое, One-eyed Likho) or as an evil male goblin of forests. Rather than being included in the major canon of the Slavic belief system, the Likho is traditionally found in skazky, or tales of fantasy and adventure equivalent to Western fairy tales.

Story

There are several basic versions of tales how a person meets with Likho, with different morals of the tale.

A person eventually cheats Likho as in the Odyssey.
A person cheats Likho, runs away (with Likho chasing him), sees a useful thing, grabs it, the person's hand sticks to it and they have to cut off their hand.
Likho cheats a person and rides on his neck. The person wants to drown Likho, jumps into a river, drowns himself, but Likho floats out, to chase other victims.
Likho is received or passed to another person with a gift.

Within the framework of superstitions, Likho was supposed to come and eat a person. In particular, this was used to scare small children.

Nomenclature

Likho is not a real proper name, but a noun meaning bad luck in modern Russian. Several proverbs utilize this term such as the Russian "Don't wake likho while it is quiet" and the Polish "Cicho! Licho nie śpi", translated as "Quiet! Evil does not sleep" and "Licho wie", literally "Licho knows", but used to mean that a given piece of information is known by no one. In old Russian the root meant "excessive", "too much" with pejorative connotations. Compare to Russian lishniy - one in excess. The word is likely to be related to Indo-European leik^w meaning something to remain, to leave. The derived adjective likhoy can be used to describe someone who is a bit too daring or brave. In Czech, lichý means odd (number), idle, vain. In Polish, lichy means shoddy, poor, flimsy. In Belarusian language, ліхі means bad, evil (like in prayer), odd (side of clothing).

Legends trace the name of Licheń Stary, the site of Poland's largest church and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń to the ancient Slavic pagan deity Licho, whose sanctuary was allegedly located nearby.

References

Mike Dixon-Kennedy (1998), Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend (illustrated ed.), ABC-CLIO, p. 167, ISBN 9781576071304

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-'''Likho''', '''liho''' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: '''Лихо''', {{lang-be|'''лі́ха'''}}, {{lang-pl|'''licho'''}}) is an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in [[Slavic mythology]], a creature with one eye, usually (but not always) depicted as an old, skinny woman in black (Лихо одноглазое, One-eyed Likho) or as an evil male [[goblin]] of forests; it is a small and ugly creature{{Fact|date=August 2007}}. It is not a member of the Slavic [[pantheon (gods)|pantheon]], it is a personage of [[fairy tale]]s, some of which contain traces of the [[Odyssey]]'s episode with [[Polyphemus]] [[cyclops]].
+'''Likho''', '''liho''' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: '''Лихо''', {{lang-be|'''лі́ха'''}}, {{lang-pl|'''licho'''}}) is an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in [[Slavic mythology]], a creature with one eye, often depicted as an old, skinny woman in black (Лихо одноглазое, One-eyed Likho) or as an evil male [[goblin]] of forests. Rather than being included in the major canon of the Slavic belief system, the Likho is traditionally found in [[Fairy_tale|skazky]], or tales of fantasy and adventure equivalent to Western fairy tales.
-''Likho'' is not a real [[proper name]], but a noun meaning bad luck in modern Russian (''Don't wake likho while it's quiet'' [[proverb]]), similar to Polish (sayings "Cicho! Licho nie śpi" -''Quiet! Licho does not sleep'', "Licho wie" -''Licho knows'' = only licho knows &ndash; nobody knows). In old Russian the root meant "excessive", "too much" with pejorative connotations. Compare to Russian ''lishniy'' - one in excess. The word is likely to be related to Indo-European ''leik<sup>w</sup>'' meaning something to remain, to leave. The derived adjective ''likhoy'' can be used to describe someone who is a bit too daring or brave. In [[Czech language|Czech]], ''lichý'' means odd (number), idle, vain. In [[Polish language|Polish]], ''lichy'' means shoddy, poor, flimsy. In [[Belarusian language]], ''ліхі'' means bad, evil (like in prayer), odd (side of clothing).
+==Story==
 There are several basic versions of tales how a person meets with Likho, with different morals of the tale.
 *A person eventually cheats Likho as in the Odyssey.
@@ Line 11: / Line 10: @@
 Within the framework of [[superstition]]s, Likho was supposed to come and eat a person. In particular, this was used to scare small children.
+==Nomenclature==
-Recently, some Slavic [[neopagan#Slavic|neopagan]]s attempt to "retrofit" Likho into the Slavic Pantheon.
+''Likho'' is not a real [[proper name]], but a noun meaning bad luck in modern Russian. Several [[proverb|proverbs]] utilize this term such as the Russian "Don't wake likho while it is quiet" and the Polish "Cicho! Licho nie śpi", translated as "Quiet! Evil does not sleep" and "Licho wie", literally "Licho knows", but used to mean that a given piece of information is known by no one.
+In old Russian the root meant "excessive", "too much" with pejorative connotations. Compare to Russian ''lishniy'' - one in excess. The word is likely to be related to Indo-European ''leik<sup>w</sup>'' meaning something to remain, to leave. The derived adjective ''likhoy'' can be used to describe someone who is a bit too daring or brave. In [[Czech language|Czech]], ''lichý'' means odd (number), idle, vain. In [[Polish language|Polish]], ''lichy'' means shoddy, poor, flimsy. In [[Belarusian language]], ''ліхі'' means bad, evil (like in prayer), odd (side of clothing).
 Legends trace the name of [[Licheń Stary]], the site of [[Poland]]'s largest church and the [[Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń]] to the ancient [[Slavic mythology|Slavic]] [[pagan]] deity Licho, whose [[sanctuary]] was allegedly located nearby.
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 ==References==
 *{{citation | year=1998 | title=Encyclopedia of Russian &amp; Slavic myth and legend | author1=Mike Dixon-Kennedy | edition=illustrated | publisher=ABC-CLIO | isbn=9781576071304 | page=167 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eD5AkdM83iIC&pg=PA167&dq=%22Likho%22&as_brr=0#PPA166,M1}}
+==See Also==
+*[[Cyclops]]
+*[[Likhoradka]]
 {{Slavmyth}}