If he is in a bad mood he breaks kitchen vessels, spooks cattle, stirs chests of clothes and spills water.
He is known as Gorretín Coloráu or the one with the "gorra encarnada" (both meaning "little red hat") in eastern Asturias.
"[3] In order to expel a trasgu it is necessary to request of him an impossible task, like bringing a basket of water from the sea, picking up millet from the floor (it falls through the hole in his hand), and whitening a black sheep.
In Cantabria, the trasgu is a small goblin with black face and green eyes that inhabits forests.
[4] In instances of fantasy literature, and many times in sword and sorcery literature, the term "trasgo" may be confused with "orc", when it more generally is used to translate the English term "goblin" (and vice versa from Spanish to English).
For example, the Spanish translation of the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien uses the term "trasgo" to signify the "goblins".
Brazilian Portuguese translation of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novel series by Lia Wyler uses the word "trasgo" to refer to the creatures known in English editions as trolls.