Likho
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 leikw 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