The mazapégul, also known by several other names in Romagnol, are mischievous nocturnal elves in the folklore of Romagna,[1][2] especially around the Apennines of Forlì, in northern Italy.
[3] Portrayed as homunculi with feline features,[1][4][5] mazapégul wear a distinctive red cap, which they require to perform their mischief.
[1][9] A mazapégul's power can be removed by stealing its cap,[1][5] performing an action to disgust the elf,[4][8] or reciting a poem while walking along a rope.
[15] It may relate to the Italian mazzapicchio (poleaxe),[7] or some kind of murderer (maza meaning 'murder') of children, stones, fathers, or sheep.
[2] Attracted by beautiful young girls,[6][8] the elves enter their rooms at night and fall asleep on their stomachs.
[1] A girl who disrespects a mazapégul becomes the victim of its mischief:[18][5] the elf could bite, shake, scratch or pinch her,[1] and they are especially mischievous with women's breasts.
[1][7] A mazapégul's presence can be identified from paw marks if flour is laid in front of a house's entrance,[5][19] and from its red cap being pinned by a well.
Other traditions against the mazapégul include keeping a pitchfork under beds and in stables, placing a broom in front of a house's entrance,[1][5] planting a caveja, a wrought iron rod symbolic of Romagna, outside the house,[4] and sprinkling grains of rice on a windowsill so that the mazapégul is distracted by counting them until daybreak.
Then, the victim recites a poem while walking along the rope barefoot:[1][8] Corda di canva fata da nov lìgul, cun una ciapra e cun i chév a spìgul; corda par imbalze’ e’ caval de’ re cun e’ pél négar e balzan da tre; par inlazè e’ cavron dl’anma daneda ch’l’à la rogna cun la schena pleda; pr impiadurè la bes-cia buvarena, pr ande int la val a fe tri cuv ad zlena; corda d’canva pr al campan da mòrt, corda pr e’ col dla speia screca fort; corda di canva pr impicher e’ ledar, bona par impicher e’ mazapédar.
[14][21] Inspired by the mazapégul, Antonio Morri [it]'s 1840 dictionary defines mazzapëdar as "that oppression, and almost suffocation, that others sometimes feel when sleeping on their back".