Bestiary · Slavic · House spirits
Kaukai
Also known as: kaukas, kaukai, barstukai, barzdukai
Lithuanian house dwarfs, bearded and a palm high, for whom food was set out in the granary at night.
The Lithuanian kaukai and barstukai are bearded house dwarfs, "a palm high", as Łasicki describes them. Householders set out bread, meat, cheese, butter and beer for them in the granary at night; if in the morning the bread had been eaten, a good harvest was expected, and if the meat, an increase of the herds.