Hödekin
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Hödekin (also spelled Hödeken, Hüdekin, and Hütchen) is a
kobold A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ger ...
(
house spirit A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...
) of
German folklore German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Partially it can be also found in Austria. Characteristics It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to thei ...
. According to the legend recorded by folklorist
Thomas Keightley Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...
in 1850, Hödekin always wore a felt hat down over his face; his name means "Little Hat". Hödekin lived with the
Bishop of Hildesheim This list records the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim (german: link=no, Bistum Hildesheim). Between 1235 and 1803 the bishops simultaneously officiating as rulers of princely rank (prince-bishop) in the Prince-Bishopric of ...
and was a helpful sprite. He kept the watch awake at night, and he warned the bishop and others about problems in the future. One inhabitant of Hildesheim asked Hödekin to guard his wife while he was away. "My good fellow, just keep an eye on my wife while I am away, and see that all goes on right." When the wife was visited by several paramours Hödekin leapt between them and assumed terrible shapes, or threw them to the floor to scare them away before the wife could be unfaithful. When the husband returned, Hödekin complained,
Your return is most grateful to me, that I may escape the trouble and disquiet that you had imposed upon me. . . . To gratify you I have guarded
our wife Our Wife may refer to: * Our Wife (1931 film) ''Our Wife'' is a 1931 American pre-Code Hal Roach comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy. It was directed by James W. Horne and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot Oliver is making plans to be ma ...
this time, and kept her from adultery, though with great and incessant toil. But I beg of you never more to commit her to my keeping; for I would sooner take charge of, and be accountable for, all the swine in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
than for one such woman, so many were the artifices and plots she devised to blink me.
Hödekin was easily angered. A kitchen servant often threw dirt and unclean water on him. Hödekin asked the head cook to chastise the boy, but the cook chided the kobold for fearing a child. The sprite replied, "Since you won't punish the boy, I will, in a few days, let you see how much afraid of him I am." When the boy went to sleep, Hödekin strangled him, cut him to pieces, and put his flesh in a pot over the fire. The cook rebuked the kobold for this behaviour, which prompted Hödekin to squeeze toads over the bishop's meat and punt the cook into the castle moat. The incident prompted the bishop to
exorcise Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
the kobold from the premises. In the 1803 novel ''Der Zwerg'' by
Goethe's Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German people, German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, politician, statesman, theatre director, and critic. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe bibliography, His works include pla ...
brother-in-law
Christian August Vulpius Christian August Vulpius (23 January 1762 – 25 June 1827) was a German novelist and dramatist. His sister married the noted German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Biography He was born at Weimar, and was educated at Jena and Erlangen. In ...
, a dwarf called "Hüttchen" pretends to be a helpful sprite but eventually turns out to be the
Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
. A connection between Hödekin and
Friar Rush ''Friar Rush'' (', ', ') is the title of a medieval Low German legend, surviving in a 1488 edition in verse form. During the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous High German, Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish), Dutch and English translations and adapt ...
, a rascally devil in the guise of a friar, who murderously subverts the abbot's household while seeming to make himself useful in the kitchen and with chores, was suggested by the Shakespeare scholar
George Lyman Kittredge George Lyman Kittredge (February 28, 1860 – July 23, 1941) was a professor of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare was influential in the early 20th century. He was also involved i ...
, who noted the connection has been made in Reginald Scott's ''
Discoverie of Witchcraft ''The Discoverie of Witchcraft'' is a partially sceptical book published by the English gentleman Reginald Scot in 1584, intended as an exposé of early modern witchcraft. It contains a small section intended to show how the public was fooled by ...
'', 1584. Sir Sidney Lee (1859–1926), editing the entry for
Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...
in the ''
DNB Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
'' suggested that the name ''Robin Hood'' originally belonged to a forest-elf, and that "in its origin the name was probably a variant of 'Hodekin', the title of a sprite or elf in Teutonic folk-lore". He took his cue from the scholarly tradition, expressed by T. Crofton Croker in 1833,''The Dublin Penny Journal'', April 20, 1833
that ''Hood'', "the title assumed by, or applied to the famous outlaw, was no other than one which had been appropriated to a denizen of fairy land — Hudikin or Hodekin, that is little hood, or cowl, being a Dutch or German spirit, so called from the most remarkable part of his dress, in which also the Norwegian ''Nis'' and Spanish ''
Duende A duende is a humanoid figure of folklore, with variations from Iberian, Ibero American, and Filipino cultures, comparable to dwarves, gnomes, or leprechauns. In Spanish ''duende'' originated as a contraction of the phrase or , effectively " ...
'' were believed to appear." Croker's and Lee's proposed connection with the woodland sprite
Robin Goodfellow In English folklore, Puck (), sometimes known as Robin Goodfellow, is a domestic and nature sprite, demon, or fairy. Origins and comparative folklore Etymology The etymology of ''puck'' is uncertain. The modern English word is attested alre ...
, in the absence of traces of magic in the Robin Hood ballads, has not been taken up by modern scholars.


Notes


References

* Arrowsmith, N. Morse G. (1977). ''A Field Guide to the Little People''. London: Pan Macmillan. . * Keightley, Thomas (1850). ''The Fairy Mythology, Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries''. London: H. G. Bohn. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodekin Kobolds German folklore Household deities