Vodyanoy
The vodník in Czechia or Slovakia were said to use colored ribbons (sometimes impersonating peddlers, but also tying them to grass, etc., as lures in the landscape) to attract humans near water in order to snatch them.
[3][4] He is said to dwell in a slough (омут), kettle hole (Котловина), or a whirlpool of a river, pond or lake, and liked especially to live near a watermill.
[3] His usual appearance is that of a naked old man with a fat paunch of a belly and swollen face according to the Russian folklore collector,[5] but a later English commentary using similar phraseology insisted the creature was not nude but bald, and concatenates additional commentary from the Russian source which says he is seen naked but covered in slime (тина), wearing a high boyar hat [ru]) made of green "club-rush" (or other sedges)[c] and a green belt of that same "grass".
[11] Or, rather than wearing plant-based clothing, a different source states he is covered in weeds and slime, and is scaly-skinned in his true form.
[11][2] Or that he is human-faced, but has huge toes, paws instead of hands, long horns, a tail, and eyes that burn like red-hot coals.
[13] He can appear as a giant moss-covered fish,[11] a log[8] or even a flying tree-trunk with small-wings, skimming over the water's surface.
When a watermill is built, a sacrifice of pig, cattle, sheep, or even human (or a chicken) must be made to appease the vodyanik.
[4][14][16] There seems to have been a cult recognizing vodyanoy as a patron saint of bee-keeping, as evidenced by the old custom of bagging the first swarm of bees and sacrificing it in water.
And the bee-keeper wishing for a bounty of honey would choose the midnight hour of the feast days of Saints Zosimus and Sabbatius and dip a honeycomb into the water by the mill, while pronouncing an incantation.
[18][4] The farmer fording his livestock will make a sign of cross (emblem of Perun's weapon) over the river as protection from this happening.
[e][19] He is known to take on a wife (or wives), and espouses "water-nymphs[f][g] or drowned and unhappy girls who have been cursed by their fathers or mothers".
He is described as an old man armed with a club, who can rise to the sky sitting on a black cloud and create new rivers and lakes.
[22] The Russian vodyanoy answers to Czech (and Slovak) vodník,[i] Slovene vodeni mož ("water-man"), and Polish topielec ("Drowner").
The Czech and Slovak vodníci (plural of vodník) can also take on an appearance of ordinary humans, but often with water dripping from their clothing, which makes their false identity easily discernable.
[35][36] Czech, Slovenian and Slovak tales have both evil and good watermen (relative to human beings) who do (or don't, respectively) try to drown people when they happen to swim in their territory.
"[citation needed] The Bohemian male water demon came to be called vodník or Hastermann, but their ancient names have not been found in older sources.
[59] Matěj Mikšíček [cz] recorded a tale about the pregnant wife of a vodník (vodníkova žena) in frog form, which compelled a housekeeper named Liduška to be its child's godmother, though this tale type has been discussed elsewhere as a widely disseminated piece of Slovak folklore (see § Frog wives under §Slovakia).
]), the vodník returns from his absence in the guise of a red ribbon (červené mašle),[m] attempting to lure and snatch Liduška, just as he is wont to do with girls with rakes haymaking on meadows by the river.
[39][33] But in Jungbunzlau (Mladá Boleslav) it was rumored the water demon maintained two castles on the Iser (Jizera), one by the mill, and other by the brickhouse.
[64][31] Slovakian folklore also speak of the vodník's pot (vodníkove hrnce), attested in the former Trencsén County (now Trenčín Region or District), and anecdotally, in the northwestern village of Boky [sk] (now attached to Budča) a stream was home to a vodný ("aquatic" man) who purchased pots to trap souls inside.
[69] The boatmen on the Váh claim to have witnessed the vodník looking like a man with the head of a black ram, though another that was spotted had green hair and clothing.
[70] The vodník are said to employ ribbons to lure humans (as in Czech regions), according to lore found in the Bratislava area and Nitra in western Slovakia.
In order to lure the person to the swamp, he would parody the sounds of various animals, create wandering lights and grow intoxicating plants.
Vodyanitsy (plural: Russian: водяницы) prefer forested lakes, mill ponds, wells and (less commonly) seas as their habitat.
They are considered harmless spirits, although sometimes they tear the nets and spoil the millstones; the sea vodyanitsy are more aggressive than freshwater ones and are dangerous to ships.
