Bestiary · Slavic · Water and forest spirit
Rusalka
Also known as: rusalka, rusalkas, rusalki, rusalky
A water and forest maiden of Slavic belief, often the soul of a drowned girl or unbaptized child, who tickles travellers to death.
The rusalkas are maidens with long loose hair who live in rivers, lakes and forests. In Rusalka Week they come out of the water, swing on the branches of trees, dance in rings in the fields and call to passers-by; whoever they catch they tickle to death. In Kharkov province the rusalka is called loskotalka, "the tickler". Many beliefs make the rusalkas the souls of drowned girls and of children who died unbaptized. Afanasyev reads them as cloud maidens, spinners and bathers in the heavenly waters, akin to the vilas and the German elves, who were later brought down to earth and joined to the souls of the dead.