Kobold

This article is about the sprite from Germanic folklore. For other uses, see Kobold (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Kobald.

Kobold

The kobold Heinzelmann
Grouping	Mythological creature Fairy Sprite
Country	Germany

A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite.

Earliest attestation from medieval writings (13th century) indicate it was a doll carved from wood or made of wax, and it is speculated these were fetish figurines, or carvings of household spirits, set up in the house, likely mounted upon the fireplace mantel or the hearth.

The practice may may have descended from an ancient Germanic house or a hearth god (Old High German: hûsing, herdgota), similar to the ancient Roman lares or lar (hearth goddess) worshiped as figurines, or the penas (sing. of penates).

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 tatrmann and described as manipulated by wires.

Either way, the idol or puppet was used rhetorically in writing by the minstrels, etc. to mock clergymen or other men.

The original notion of the kobold as household spirit, seemingly corroborated by the etymology kob[en] "chamber" + walt "ruler, power, authority" was corrupted by the idea of mine spirits. Such mine spirits in the legends of 16th century German mine-workers were called kobel (cobalus) and Bergmännlein (virunculos montanos) as attested by Georgius Agricola (see gnome). Grimm had argued for an alternate etymology for kobold, as deriving from this Latin cobalus, making kobold a cognate of cobalus (kobel) and "goblin".

Thus the kobold or its synonyms were later regarded as no longer confined to the household, but haunting mines, mountains, forests, or fields. As household spirits, they may perform domestic chores, or play malicious tricks if insulted or neglected. The kobold is sometimes called Heinzelmann (from the diminutive of Heinrich) or Hinzelmann (Hintzelmann), which are sometimes commingled but are distinguishable, and the latter has been theorized as a reference to the kobold's occasional cat-form. In German folklore, the kobold materialize in the form of such an animal, a human, or a pillar fire in mid-air.

Kobold subtypes called hütchen or Low German hödekin come from their wearing caps or hoods. It has been stated by Jacob Grimm that the kobold has the general tendency to wear red pointy hats, while acknowledging this to be a widely disseminated mark of household spirits under other names such as the Norwegian nisse; and the North German Niss-Puk (cog. puck) are also prone to wearing such caps.

The Klabautermann aboard ships that help sailors are sometimes classed as a kobold.

The name of the element cobalt comes from the creature's name, because medieval miners blamed the sprite for the poisonous and troublesome nature of the typical arsenical ores of this metal (cobaltite and smaltite) which polluted other mined elements.

Nomenclature

Etymology

The kobalt etymology as consisting of kob "chamber" + walt "ruler, power, authority", with the meaning of "household spirit" has been advanced and given by various authors, e.g., Müller-Fraureuth (1906). Otto Schrader (1908) suggested ancestral *kuba-walda "the one who rules the house". Dowden (2002) offers the hypothetical precursor *kofewalt.

Older etymons and cognates

The kob/kub/kuf- root is possibly related to Old Norse/Icelandic: kofe "chamber", Old High German: chubisi "house", also. and the English word "cove" in the sense of 'shelter".

Müller-Fraureuth (1906) wrote that the form kobe survives in modern German "Schweinekoben", meaning "pig stall", and that the true original etymology contained the stem-Hold as a name for "demon". Linguist Paul Wexler (2002) also endorses a derivation from koben "pigsty" +hold "spirit" hence "stall spirit".

Related cognate terms occur in Dutch, such as kabout, kabot, and kaboutermanneken.

Transitive as mine spirit

German linguist Paul Kretschmer (1928) recapped the foregoing etymology of kobold and its later transitive (conflated) meaning, stating that the word kobold originated in koben "chamber' + walt "ruler, power, authority", and that it originally denoted as Hausgeist or house spirit. But through assimilation or conflation with lore about "mine spirits", it came to be interchangeably used with various terms for "mine spirits" such as the Latin forms of Bergmännlein or gnome or Berggeist.

Grimm's alternate etymology

Although Grimm himself conjectured that the boxwood kobold dolls mentioned in 13th century literature derived from carven idols of household spirits (cf. § Doll or idol below), he did not advance the aforementioned "house-ruler" etymology, but rather saw kobold/kobolt as deriving from Latin cobalus or its antecedent Greek koba'los (pl. kobaloi; Ancient Greek: Κόβαλος, plural: Κόβαλοι), meaning "rogue". The final -olt he explained as typical German language suffix for monsters and supernaturals.

Thus the generic "goblin" is a cognate of "kobold" according to Grimm's etymology, and perhaps even a descendant word deriving from "kobold".

(Mine spirits)

Further information: § Mine spirits, and gnome

Additionally, Grimm's etymology for kobold is shared by the cobalus mine spirits (later known as gnomes) described by Georgius Agricola (De Animantibus Subterraneis, 1549), who connected the word to the Greek kobalos.

As for the term cobalus (German: kobel) denoting mine spirits or demons, described these "little miners" as cobali (cobalus) and related it to Hence, this cobali/cobalus in the sense of "mine spirit (gnome)", and its German form kobel,

(kobalos in Hellenism)

The kobalos of ancient Greece which was a sprite, a mischievous creature fond of tricking and frightening mortals, even robbing Heracles/Hercules. Greek myths depict the kobaloi as impudent, thieving, droll, idle, mischievous, gnome-dwarfs, and as funny, little tricksy elves of a phallic nature. Depictions of kobaloi are common in ancient Greek art.

Cobalt ore

The cobalt ore was already known as kobalt among German miners in the 16th century, attested by Johannes Mathesius, and supposedly was thus called in reference to the mine demon.

Subtypes, other house spirits

Although kobold has slipped into becoming a generic term, translatable as goblin, so that all manners of household spirits become classifiable as "types" of kobold. Such alternate names for the kobold house sprite are classified by type of naming (A. As doll, B. As pejoratives for stupidity, C. Appearance-based, D. Characteristics-based, E. Diminutive pet name based), in the Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (HdA).

Grimm, after stating that the list of kobold (or household spirit) in German lore can be long, also adds the names Hütchen and Heinzelmann.

Pet names

Heinz, diminutive for Heinrich), gives rise to names of household spirits in several forms: The Heinzelmännchen was a house spirit particularly associated with Cologne (Köln), and Hänneschen was common in Cologne's puppet theater. These Heinzelmännchen of Cologne resemble short, naked men.

Though Grimm apparently did not make a distinction based on vowel change, it is the Hintzelmann (Cf. § Cat-shape) which is properly associated with kobold, according to lexicographer Elmar Seebold, and Heinzelmännchen is completely distinguishable in terms of both appearance and behavior.

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. Chim is another form, and "Chim", "Kurt Chimgen", "Himschen", "Heinzchen" were what Alsatian cooks call their kitchen kobolds by. Wolterken, also Low German, is diminutive for Walther, and another piece of household spirit of the pet name type.

(mandrake root dolls)

In the south, Heinzelmännchen confusingly carries the different meaning of mandrake root (German: Alraunwurzel). The mandrake-doll is regarded as falling under the class of Glückmännchen, the generic term for dolls fashioned from roots, in some sources. In the north (Saterland, Lower Saxony) there is an instance of the kobold being called alrûne, and the name also occurs in Friesland.

Apparel names

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 Hütchen, Timpehut, Langhut, etc. and even Hellekeplein (cf. cloak of invisibility). To this group probably belongs the Lower Saxon house spirit hôdekin (Low German: Hödekin) from Hildesheim, sporting a felt hat. Grimm also adds the names Hopfenhütel, Eisenhütel.

Cat-shape

The kobold type Hinzelmann or Hintzelmann is completely distinguishable from Heinzelmann, Heinzelmännchen, and is classified as a name alluding to the kobold's cat-like shape or transformation, according to 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, as well as katermann (from kater "tom cat") which may be precursor to tatermann..

Miscellaneous

King Goldemar, king of dwarfs, is also rediscussed 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 § Parallels.

Origins

Doll or idol

One of the earliest attestations of kobold comes Konrad von Würzburg's poem (<1250) which refers to a man as worthless as a kobold (doll made from from boxwood).

Grimm conjectured (and Karl Simrock in 1855 reiterated) that home sprites carved from boxwood and wax and set up in the house, originally as a cult of the German hearth god (Old High German: hûsing or herdgota), equivalent to Roman penates or (lar familiares), manes, which are hearth deities. Otto Schrader also regurgitated this idea, observing that "cult of the hearth-fire" developed into "tutlelary house deities, localized in the home", and the German kobold and the Greek agathós daímōn fit this template.

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".

Although Grimm supposes these were once seriously venerated as idols, even by this already Catholicized period (High Middle Ages), people were using them as decors in jest, like the modern nutcracker dolls, and the practice has endured in this playful context into modern times.

Stringed puppet

The kobolt and Tatrmann were also boxwood puppets manipulated by wires, which performed in puppet theater in the medieval period. The traveling juggler (German: Gaukler) of yore used to make a kobold doll appear out of their coats, and make faces with it to entertain the crowd.

Metaphoric slander

Whether doll or marionette, the terms were kobold and synonyms were used in literature to satirize the clergy as "wooden bishop", or "wooden sexton". This is sometimes comparing a man in silence to a mute doll. T

Some of the kobold synonyms are specific classified under the slander for stupidity category in the HdA, as aforementioned.

But Konrad's poem above seems to be a more complicated double metaphor to the luhs (Luchs, "lynx", conceived of as a hybrid of fox and wolf, and therefore unable to breed, and also regarded as deceitful) and the kobold doll.

Characteristics

Drawing of a Kobold

A kobold in the form of an infant helps with domestic chores.

Kobolds are spirits and, as such, part of a spiritual realm. However, as with other European spirits, they often dwell among the living.

Kobolds may manifest as non-human animals, fire, humans, and objects.,such as a candle.

Physical description

The kobold household spirit tends to be ascribed red hair and beard, according to Jacob Grimm. One report of a encounter experience with mine kobolds claims black skin (cf. § A spiritualist's report).

Red cap

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 hütchen (meaning "little hat", cf. § Apparel names) 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 (latter is cognate to English puck) wearing pointed red caps localized in Stapelholm, part of the province o Schleswig-Holstein, in northernmost Germany adjoining Denmark. Some of the oral sources elaborate that the creature also wears "red stockings, long grey or green tick coat". While the kobold-niss-puk was regarded as wearing a "red jacket and cap" in western Uckermark (northeastern Germany, close to current Polish border).

Boyish spirit

A legend recorded by folklorist Joseph Snowe from a place called Alte Burg in 1839 tells of a creature "in the shape of a short, thick-set being, neither boy nor man, but akin to the condition of both, garbed in a party-coloured loose surcoat, and wearing a high-crowned hat with a broad brim on his diminutive head." The kobold Hödekin (also known as Hüdekin and Hütchen) of Hildesheim wore a little hat down over his face (Hödekin means "little hat").

Other tales describe kobolds appearing as herdsmen looking for work and little, wrinkled old men in pointed hoods. Some kobolds resemble small children.

Heinzelmann, a kobold from the folklore of Hudermühlen Castle in the region of Lüneburg, appeared as a beautiful boy with blond, curly hair to his shoulders and dressed in a red silk coat. His voice was "soft and tender like that of a boy or maiden".

There also seems to be 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.

Fire phenomena

The kobold is said to appear as an oscillating fire-pillar ("stripe") with a part resembling a head, but appears in the guise of a black cat when it lands and is no longer airborne (Altmark, Saxony. Benjamin Thorpe likens this to similar lore about the dråk ("drake") in Swinemünde (now Świnoujście), Pomerania.

A legend from the same period taken from Pechüle, near Luckenwald, says that a drak or kobold flies through the air as a blue stripe and carries grain. "If a knife or a fire-steel be cast at him, he will burst, and must let fall what which he is carrying". Some legends say the fiery kobold enters and exits a house through the chimney. Legends dating to 1852 from western Uckermark ascribe both human and fiery features to the kobold; he wears a red jacket and cap and moves about the air as a fiery stripe. Such fire associations, along with the name drake, may point to a connection between kobold and dragon myths.

Animal form

Other kobolds appear as non-human animals. Folklorist D. L. Ashliman has reported kobolds appearing as wet cats and hens, Thorpe has recorded that the people of Altmark believed that kobolds appeared as black cats while walking the earth. The kobold Heinzelmann could appear as a black marten and a large snake.

Invisibility

The Heinzelmännchen of Cologne left the city after a woman tried to see them by tripping them with peas strewn on the stairs.

Most often, kobolds remain completely invisible.

The Heinzelmänchen of Cologne marched from the city and sailed away when a tailor's wife strewed peas on the stairs to trip them so she could see them. In 1850, Keightley noted that the Heinzelmänchen "[had] totally disappeared, as has been everywhere the case, owing to the curiosity of people, which has at all times been the destruction of so much of what was beautiful in the world".

One legend tells of a female servant taking a fancy to her house's kobold and asking to see him. The kobold refuses, claiming that to look upon him would be terrifying. Undeterred, the maid insists, and the kobold tells her to meet him later—and to bring along a pail of cold water. The kobold waits for the maid, nude and with a butcher knife in his back. The maid faints at the sight, and the kobold wakes her with the cold water. In one variant, the maid sees a dead baby floating in a cask full of blood; years before, the woman had borne a bastard child, killed it, and hidden it in such a cask. Legends tell of those who try to trick a kobold into showing itself being punished for the misdeed. For example, Heinzelmann tricked a nobleman into thinking that the kobold was hiding in a jug. When the nobleman covered the jug's mouth to trap the creature, the kobold chided him:

If I had not heard long ago from other people that you were a fool, I might now have known it of myself, since you thought I was sitting in an empty jug, and went to cover it up with your hand, as if you had me caught. I don't think you worth the trouble, or I would have given you, long since, such a lesson, that you should remember me long enough. But before long you will get a slight ducking.

Although King Goldemar (or Goldmar), a famous kobold from Castle Hardenstein, had hands "thin like those of a frog, cold and soft to the feel", he never showed himself. The master of Hundermühlen Castle, where Heinzelmann lived, convinced the kobold to let him touch him one night. The kobold's fingers were childlike, and his face was like a skull, without body heat..</ref> When a man threw ashes and tares about to try to see King Goldemar's footprints, the kobold cut him to pieces, put him on a spit, roasted him, boiled his legs and head, and ate him.

House spirits

Main article: House spirit

Heinzelmann was a kobold who haunted Hudemühlen Castle.

Domestic kobolds are 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. One tradition claims that the kobold enters the household by announcing itself at night by strewing wood chips about the house and putting dirt or cow manure in the milk cans. If the master of the house leaves the wood chips and drinks the soiled milk, the kobold takes up residence. The kobold Heinzelmann of Hundermühlen Castle arrived in 1584 and announced himself by knocking and making other sounds. 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. 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, 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: They chase away pests, clean the stables, feed and groom the cattle and horses, scrub the dishes and pots, and sweep the kitchen. Other kobolds help tradespeople and shopkeepers. A Cologne legend recorded by Keightley claims that bakers in the city in the early 19th century never needed hired help because, each night, the kobolds known as Heinzelmänchen made as much bread as a baker could need. Similarly, biersal, kobolds who live in breweries and the beer cellars of inns or pubs, bring beer into the house, clean the tables, and wash the bottles, glasses and casks. One such legend, first appearing late in the 19th century, concerns a house spirit named Hödfellow that resided at the Fremlin's Brewery in Maidstone, Kent, England who was wont to either assist the company's workers or hinder their efforts depending on whether he was being paid his share of the beer. This association between kobolds and work gave rise to a saying current in 19th-century Germany that a woman who worked quickly "had the kobold".

A kobold can bring wealth to his household in the form of grain and gold. In this function it often is called Drak. A legend from Saterland and East Friesland tells of a kobold called the Alrûn (which is the German term for mandrake). Despite standing only about a foot tall, the creature could carry a load of rye in his mouth for the people with whom he lived and did so daily as long as he received a meal of biscuits and milk. This Alrûn was also an object sold in bottles, namely a "mandrake" (though any doll shaped from some fake plant root could of course also be passed off as such). And the saying to have an Alrûn in one's pocket means "to have luck at play". However, kobold gifts may be stolen from the neighbours; accordingly, some legends say that gifts from a kobold are demonic or evil. Nevertheless, peasants often welcome this trickery and feed their kobold in the hopes that it continue bringing its gifts. A family coming into unexplained wealth was often attributed to a new kobold moving into the house.

Kobolds bring good luck and help their hosts as long as the hosts take care of them. The kobold Heinzelmann found things that had been lost. He had a rhyme he liked to sing: "If thou here wilt let me stay, / Good luck shalt thou have alway; / But if hence thou wilt me chase, / Luck will ne'er come near the place". Three famous kobolds, King Goldemar, Heinzelmann, and Hödekin, all gave warnings about danger to the owners of the home in which they lived. Heinzelmann once warned a colonel to be careful on his daily hunt. The man ignored the advice, only to have his gun backfire and shoot off his thumb. Heinzelman appeared to him and said, "See, now, you have got what I warned you of! If you had refrained from shooting this time, this mischance would not have befallen you". The kobold Hödekin, who lived with the bishop of Hildesheim in the 12th century, once warned the bishop of a murder. When the bishop acted on the information, he was able to take over the murderer's lands and add them to his bishopric.

In return, the family must leave a portion of their supper (or beer, for the biersal—see Hödfellow) to the spirit and must treat the kobold with respect, never mocking or laughing at the creature. A kobold expects to be fed in the same place at the same time each day, One tradition says that their favourite food is grits or water-gruel. Tales tell of kobolds with their own rooms; the kobold Heinzelmann had his own chamber at the castle, complete with furnishings. and King Goldemar was said to sleep in the same bed with Neveling von Hardenberg. He demanded a place at the table and a stall for his horses. Keightley relates that maids who leave the employ of a certain household must warn their successor to treat the house kobold well.

Legends tell of slighted kobolds becoming quite malevolent and vengeful, afflicting errant hosts with supernatural diseases, disfigurements, and injuries. Their pranks range from beating the servants to murdering those who insult them. One holyman visited the home of Heinzelmann and refused to accept the kobold's protests that he was a Christian. Heinzelmann threatened him, and the nobleman fled. Another nobleman refused to drink to the kobold's honour, which prompted Heinzelmann to drag the man to the ground and choke him near to death. When a kitchen servant got dirt on the kobold Hödekin and sprayed him with water each time he appeared, Hödekin asked that the boy be punished, but the steward dismissed the behaviour as a childish prank. Hodeken waited for the servant to go to sleep and then strangled him, tore him limb from limb, and threw him in a pot over the fire. The head cook rebuked the kobold for the murder, so Hodeken squeezed toad blood onto the meat being prepared for the bishop. The cook chastised the spirit for this behaviour, so Hodeken threw him over the drawbridge into the moat. According to Max Lüthi, these abilities reflect the fear of the people who believe in them. Thomas Keightley has attributed the feats of kobolds to "ventriloquism and the contrivances of servants and others".

The kobold Heinzelmann appears to the fleeing master of his house as a white feather.

Archibald Maclaren has attributed kobold behaviour to the virtue of the homeowners; a virtuous house has a productive and helpful kobold; a vice-filled one has a malicious and mischievous pest. If the hosts give up those things to which the kobold objects, the spirit ceases its annoying behaviour. Heinzelmann punished vices; for example, when the secretary of Hudenmühlen was sleeping with the chamber maid, the kobold interrupted a sexual encounter and hit the secretary with a broom handle. King Goldemar revealed the secret transgressions of clergymen, much to their chagrin. Joseph Snowe has related the tale of a kobold at Alte Burg: When two students slept in the mill in which the creature lived, one of them ate the offering of food the miller had left the kobold. The student who had left the meal alone felt the kobold's touch as "gentle and soothing", but the one who had eaten its food felt that "the fingers of the hand were pointed with poisoned arrowheads, or fanged with fire." Even friendly kobolds are rarely completely good, and house kobolds may do mischief for no particular reason. They hide things, push people over when they bend to pick something up, and make noise at night to keep people awake. The kobold Hödekin of Hildesheim roamed the walls of the castle at night, forcing the watch to be constantly vigilant. A kobold in a fishermen's house in Köpenick on the Wendish Spree reportedly moved sleeping fishermen so that their heads and toes lined up. King Goldemar enjoyed strumming the harp and playing dice. One of Heinzelmann's pranks was to pinch drunken men to make them start fights with their companions. Heinzelmann liked his lord's two daughters and scared away their suitors so that the women never married.

Folktales tell of people trying to rid themselves of mischievous kobolds. In one tale, a man with a kobold-haunted barn puts all the straw onto a cart, burns the barn down, and sets off to start anew. As he rides away, he looks back and sees the kobold sitting behind him. "It was high time that we got out!" it says. A similar tale from Köpenick tells of a man trying to move out of a kobold-infested house. He sees the kobold preparing to move too and realises that he cannot rid himself of the creature. The lord of the Hundermühlen Castle disliked Heinzelmann and tried to escape him by taking up residence with his family and retinue elsewhere. Nevertheless, the invisible kobold travelled along with them as a white feather, which they discovered when they stayed at an inn.

Why do you retire from me? I can easily follow you anywhere, and be where you are. It is much better for you to return to your own estate, and not be quitting it on my account. You see well that if I wished it I could take away all you have, but I am not inclined to do so.

Exorcism by a Christian priest works in some tales; the bishop of Hildesheim managed to exorcise Hödekin from the castle. Even this method is not fool-proof, however; when an exorcist tried to drive away Heinzelmann, the kobold tore up the priest's holy book, strewed it about the room, attacked the exorcist, and chased him away. Insulting a kobold may drive it away, but not without a curse; when someone tried to see his true form, Goldemar left the home and vowed that the house would now be as unlucky as it had been fortunate under his care.

Mine spirits

See also: gnome

Another class of kobold lives in underground places. Folklorists have proposed that the mine kobold derives from the beliefs of the ancient Germanic people. German legends about these kobold mine spirits held that they could play tricks, but could also bring riches, with the caveat that such kobolds are difficult to distinguish from nature demons, i.e., the kobold has become equatable with gnome or "mine demon".

Kobolds that live in mines are hunched and ugly and some can materialise into a brick.

Legends often paint underground kobolds as evil creatures. In medieval mining towns, people prayed for protection from them. They were blamed for the accidents, cave-ins, and rock slides that plagued human miners. One favoured kobold prank was to fool miners into taking worthless ore. For example, 16th-century miners sometimes encountered what looked to be rich veins of copper or silver, but which, when smelted, proved to be little more than a pollutant and could even be poisonous. Miners tried to appease the kobolds with offerings of gold and silver and by insisting that fellow miners treat them respectfully. Nevertheless, some stories claim that kobolds only returned such kindness with more poisonous ores. Miners called these ores cobalt after the creatures from whom they were thought to come. In 1735, Swedish chemist Georg Brandt isolated a substance from such ores and named it cobalt rex. In 1780, scientists showed that this was in fact a new element, which they named cobalt.

Tales from other parts of Germany make mine kobolds beneficial creatures, at least if they are treated respectfully. Nineteenth-century miners in Bohemia and Hungary reported hearing knocking in the mines. They interpreted such noises as warnings from the kobolds to not go in that direction. Other miners claimed that the knocks indicated where veins of metal could be found: the more knocks, the richer the vein.

A spiritualist's report

In 1884, spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten reported a story from a Madame Kalodzy, who claimed to have heard mine kobolds while visiting a peasant named Michael Engelbrecht: "On the three first days after our arrival, we only heard a few dull knocks, sounding in and about the mouth of the mine, as if produced by some vibrations or very distant blows..."

In 1820, Spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten recorded a description of mine kobolds from a Madame Kalodzy, who stayed with peasants named Dorothea and Michael Engelbrecht.

The same informant claimed to later have seen the kobolds first-hand. She 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 first described, an appearance which is much more frequently seen than the little black men themselves."

Parallels

Kobold beliefs mirror legends of similar creatures in other regions of Europe, and scholars have argued that the names of creatures such as goblins and kabouters derive from the same roots as kobold. This may indicate a common origin for these creatures, or it may represent cultural borrowings and influences of European peoples upon one another. Similarly, subterranean kobolds may share their origins with creatures such as gnomes and dwarves.

Sources equate the domestic kobold with creatures such as the English boggart, hobgoblin and pixie, the Scottish brownie, and the Scandinavian nisse or tomte; while they align the subterranean variety with the Norse dwarf and the Cornish knocker. Irish writer Thomas Keightley argued that the German kobold and the Scandinavian nis predate the Irish fairy and the Scottish brownie and influenced the beliefs in those entities, but American folklorist Richard Mercer Dorson discounted this argument as reflecting Keightley's bias toward Gotho-Germanic ideas over Celtic ones.

British antiquarian Charles Hardwick ventured a theory that the spirits like the kobold in other cultures, such as the Scottish bogie, French goblin, and English Puck were also etymologically related. In keeping with Grimm's definition, the kobaloi were spirits invoked by rogues.

German writer Heinrich Smidt believed that the sea kobolds, or Klabautermann, entered German folklore via German sailors who had learned about them in England. However, historians David Kirby and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen dispute this, claiming no evidence of such a belief in Britain. An alternate view connects the Klabautermann myths with the story of Saint Phocas of Sinope. As that story spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. Scholar Reinhard Buss instead sees the Klabautermann as an amalgamation of early and pre-Christian beliefs mixed with new creatures.

The Klabautermann (cf. § Water spirits below) is a kobold from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of the Baltic Sea.

The kobold as mining spirits are compared to the English bluecap and Cornish knocker, as well as the Welsh coblynau.

Water spirits

Main article: Klabautermann

A Klabautermann on a ship, from Buch Zur See, 1885.

The Klabautermann] (also spelt Klaboterman and Klabotermann) is a creature from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of Germany's north coast, the Netherlands, and the Baltic Sea, and may represent a third type of kobold or possibly a different spirit that has merged with kobold traditions. Belief in the Klabautermann dates to at least the 1770s.

According to these traditions, Klabautermanns live on ships and are generally beneficial to the crew. For example, a Klabautermann will pump water from the hold, arrange cargo, and hammer at holes until they can be repaired. The creatures are thought to be especially useful in times of danger, preventing the ship from sinking. The Klabautermann is associated with the wood of the ship on which it lives. It enters the ship via the wood used to build it, and it may appear as a ship's carpenter. The Klabautermann typically appears as a small, pipe-smoking humanlike figure wearing a yellow nightcap-style sailor's hat and a red or grey jacket.

The Klabautermann's benevolent behaviour lasts as long as the crew and captain treat the creature respectfully. A Klabautermann will not leave its ship until it is on the verge of sinking. To this end, superstitious sailors in the 19th century demanded that others pay the Klabautermann respect. Ellett has recorded one rumour that a crew even threw its captain overboard for denying the existence of the ship's Klabautermann. Heinrich Heine has reported that one captain created a place for his ship's Klabautermann in his cabin and that the captain offered the spirit the best food and drink he had to offer. Klabautermanns are easily angered. Their ire manifests in pranks such as tangling ropes and laughing at sailors who shirk their chores.

The sight of a Klabautermann is an ill omen, and in the 19th century, it was the most feared sight among sailors. According to one tradition, they only appear to those about to die. Another story recorded by Ellett claims that the Klabautermann only shows itself if the ship is doomed to sink.

In culture

Literary references

German writers have long borrowed from German folklore and fairy lore for both poetry and prose. Narrative versions of folktales and fairy tales are common, and kobolds are the subject of several such tales. The kobold is invoked by Martin Luther in his Bible, translates the Hebrew lilith in Isaiah 34:14 as kobold.

In Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, the kobold represents the Greek element of earth. This merely goes to show that Goethe saw fit to substitute "kobold" for the gnome of the earth, one of Paraceslsus's four spirits.

Theatrical and musical works

A kobold is musically depicted in Edvard Grieg's lyric piece, opus 71, number 3.

Der Kobold, Op. 3, is also Opera in Three Acts with text and music by Siegfried Wagner; his third opera and it was completed in 1903.

The kobold characters Pittiplatsch occurs in modern East German puppet theatre. . Pumuckl the kobold originated as a children's radio play series (1961).

Games and D&D literature

Kobolds also appear in many modern fantasy-themed games like Clash of Clans and Hearthstone, usually as a low-power or low-level enemy. They exist as a playable race in the Dark Age of Camelot video game. They also exist as a non-playable rat-like race in the World of Warcraft video game series, and also feature in tabletop games such as Magic: The Gathering. In Dungeons & Dragons, the kobold appears as an occasionally playable race of lizard-like beings. In Might and Magic games (notably Heroes VII), they are depicted as being mouse-dwarf hybrids.

Fantasy novels and anime

The fantasy novel Record of Lodoss War adapted into anime depicts kobolds as dog-like, based on earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons, resulting in many Japanese media depictions doing the same.

In the novel American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, Hinzelmann is portrayed as an ancient kobold who helps the city of Lakeside in exchange for killing one teenager once a year.

In the novel The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold, mining kobolds help the protagonists and display a fondness for milk. In an author's note, Bujold attributes her conception of kobolds to the Herbert Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover translation of De re metallica.

See also

• Gremlin
• Kobold (Dungeons & Dragons)
• Gütel, a kobold variety
• Niß Puk, the kobold of Northern Germany and Denmark
• Yōsei – Spiritlike creature from Japanese folklore

References

Citations

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