The sjörå , (lake Rå) or the ''Sjöfru'' (Mistress of the Lake) was a mythical creature of the lake, or Rå, in Swedish

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. She is a female,

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

water spirit A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures: African Some water spirits in traditional African religion include: * Mami Wata is a transcultural pantheon of water spirits and deities of the African ...

. She is a seductive creature, often featured sitting and combing her long, sweeping hair with delight, and often lures and drowns men who are unkind, unfaithful or otherwise disrespectful to her or the lake. Like all other rå (keepers) she protects her domain and awards those kind to her with prosperous fishing, good luck and saves them from drowning. In wintertime she would sometimes stick her hand up from the waters. If the visitor then gave her a mitten she would thank him for his kindness with gifts or protect him in his time of need.

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Scandinavian legendary creatures Swedish folklore Female legendary creatures Water spirits {{Legendary-creature-stub

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References