Bestiary · Slavic · Maiden of fate
Lauma
Also known as: lauma, laumas, laumės
A Lithuanian spirit who spins and weaves, tends the newborn and decrees fate, and in other tales steals children.
The Lithuanian laumas are female spirits who spin and weave, bathe, appear in the forests and fields, and come to newborn children. As maidens who decree the end of life as well as its beginning, they also steal children and strike people with sudden death. Afanasyev treats them as maidens of fate and spinners akin to the sudičky.