In one version of the myth, Herakles gave them to the Lydian queen Omphale as a gift.
[4] Greek myths depict the kobaloi as "impudent, thieving, droll, idle, mischievous, gnome-dwarfs",[3] and as "funny, little tricksy elves" of a phallic nature.
[5] The term also means "impudent knave, arrant rogue" in ancient Greek, and such individuals were thought to invoke kobaloi spirits.
The kobalos is related to two other Greek sprites: the kabeiroi (pygmies with large phalluses) and the kerkopes.
[3] Nineteenth Century classicists proposed that other European sprites may derive from belief in kobaloi.