Otesánek is a Czech fairy tale created by Karel Jaromír Erben in the 19th century which tells the story of a fearsome and constantly hungry, living log of wood.

In the story there are elements of narrative that are similar to more famous fairy tales such as The Adventures of Pinocchio and Little Red Riding Hood; despite this, the themes present in Otesánek appear nonetheless to be quite different from most other European fairy tales, with a particularly ambiguous moral which leaves a lot of room to subjective interpretation.

One day the husband finds in the nearby forest a log of wood (Otesánek) that strangely resembles a baby and decides to bring it home.

The story eventually concludes with the death of Otesánek at the hands of an elderly lady of the village who rips open his chest with a hoe, thus killing the monster and freeing all those he ate, including his parents.

In it, an old childless couple make themselves a clay-child, who first eats all their food, then them, then a number of people, until he meets a goat who offers to jump right into his mouth, but instead uses the opportunity to ram the Clay-Boy, shattering him and freeing everyone.