Schrat
The Schrat or Schratt, also Schraz or Waldschrat, is a rather diverse German and Slavic legendary creature with aspects of either a wood sprite, domestic sprite and/or a nightmare demon. In other languages it is further known as Skrat.
Etymology
The word Schrat originates in the same word root as Old Norse skrati, skratti, Icelandic ' and vatnskratti, Swedish ', and English .The German term entered Slavic languages and Finno-Ugric ones as well. Examples are Polish skrzat, skrzot, Czech škrat, škrátek, , Slovene škrat, škratek, škratelj, and škratec as well as Estonian kratt, krätt, rett, krat, krätt.
Medieval attestations
The Schrat is first attested in Medieval sources. Old High German sources have scrato, scrat, scraz, scraaz, skrez,''screiz, waltscrate, screzzolscratto, sklezzo, slezzo, and sletto.Middle High German sources give the forms schrat, schrate, waltschrate, waltschrat, schretel, schretelîn, schretlin, schretlein, schraz, schrawaz, schreczl, schreczlein, schreczlîn or schreczlin, and waltscherekken.
In Old High German sources, the word is used to translate the Latin terms referring to wood sprites and nightmare demons, such as pilosi, fauni, satiri,, silvestres homines, incubus, incubator, and larva. Accordingly, the earliest known Schrat was likely a furry or hairy fiend or an anthropomorphic or theriomorphic spirit dwelling in the woods and causing nightmares.
Middle High German sources continued to translate satyrus and incubus as Schrat, indicating it was considered a wood sprite or nightmare demon, but another vocabularium glossed Schrat as penates''.
The Middle High German story "Schrätel und Wasserbär ", where the spirit haunts a peasant's house in Denmark is considered "genuine" house spirit material.
The medieval tradition of offering the schretlein or trut pairs of little red shoes was preached as sin by Martin von Amberg.
Diminutive forms
The Schrat is known by numerous diminutive forms, many of which take on the sense of Alp, a nightmare demon. That is to say, many of these carry the sense of an Alptraum demon or sickness demon especially in the south. But Schrat diminutives may also refer to a house spirit or a stable-haunting being.The diminutive form Schrätel, for example, is ambivalent, and is discussed below under both a "dream demon" and "household sprite."
To name other such forms, unsorted into specific spirit types: Schrätlein, Schrättlein; Schrättling; Schrötele, Schröttele, Schröttlich, Schreitel; Schrätzlein; and Schlaarzla, Schrähelein.
Wood sprite
The Waldschrat is a solitary wood sprite looking scraggily, shaggily, partially like an animal, with eyebrows grown together, and wolf teeth in its mouth., as summarized by Hans Pehl in the HdA.But this is a hotchpotch profile put together from disparate sources. Grimm gave attestations of Waldschrat in medieval romances and the poem "Waldschrat" which is a retelling of Bonerius Fable No. 91, none of which provide much physical description except being "dwarf" sized. The Schrat as Waldgeist is physically described as hairy in commentary by Karl Joseph Simrock, and is equated with Räzel ; in particular, the trait of the single joined eyebrow, is held to be common to the woodland schrat, the Alp, and sorcerers, some capable of werewolf-transformation. The last bit appears to be clipped from the description of the "Walschrande" encountered in the Middle Dutch version of the story of St. Brendan's Voyage. These Walschrande were described as having swines' heads, wolves' teeth, human hands, and hounds' legs that were shaggy. Celtic origin has been argued in scholarship concerning the schrat in the Arthurian cycle works and the legend of St. Brendan who was an Irish monk.
The Austrian Schrat or Waldkobold looks like the creature as described above: it is small and usually solitary. The Schratln love the deep, dark forest and will move away if the forest is logged. The Schrat likes to play malicious pranks and tease evilly. If offended, it breaks the woodcutters' axes in two and lets trees fall in the wrong direction.
In the Swiss valley Muotatal, before 1638 there was an Epiphany procession called Greifflete associated with two female wood sprites, Strudeli and Strätteli, the latter being a derivative of Schrat.
Mining demon
A Schrattel can be a Goldteufel that can be made to serve a human, bringing his master gold or silver found in the Pusterwald region, according to the legend from Styria in Austria; the legend was recorded by in his novel Das Hochgericht vom Birkachwald.Nightmare demon
The Alp of German folklore, in the strict sense, refers to an Alptraum causing demon, and is associated with pressure like a horse is riding on the sleeper, with stifling against the pillow, and hence respiratory and other sicknesses. This tends to be known by the name Schrat or its variants in Southern Germany and Switzerland, especially in regions with Alemannic dialect. Such a demon is also considered a sickness demon, as explained above.Forms
The Alptraum nightmare was known locally under diminutive names such as Schrättele: Schrättel in Switzerland; or Schrättlein; Schrattele, Schrettele in Upper Swabia; Schrecksele around, Bühl, Wurmlingen in Swabia, or Schrätzmännel in "Munster valley" in Alsace.Other forms are: Strädel, Schrätele, Schrätel, Schrattl, Schrattel, Schratel, Schrättlig, Schrätzel; Schreckle, Schrecksel;, Scherzel, Rettele, Rätzel, Ritzel, Letzel, and Letzekäppel.
In the historic state of Baden, the Schrättele enters by crawling through the keyhole and sits on the sleeper's chest. It can also enter through the window as a black hen. The Swabian schrettele is named as the perpetrator of the "Alp-pressure" bearing down upon the human sleeper's chest or throat.
Livestock dream spirits
In Tirol, it is said the Schrettl or Schrattl to the livestock is similar to what the dream-demon Trud is to humans. It supposedly pins down livestock with Schrattldruck, and the affected cattle, pigs, or hens lie down as if paralyzed or dead. Tirolian farmers try to guard against this sprite by crafting the Das Schrattlgatter from wooden slats, and it is alleged hanging one in the henhouse has saved it.In Switzerland, the Schrättlig sucks the udders of cows and goats dry and makes horses become schretig, i.e. fall ill. In Swabia, the Schrettele also sucks human breasts and animal udders until they swell, tangles horse manes, and makes Polish plaits. In Austria, The Schrat tangles horse tails and dishevels horse manes.
Witches, possessions, ghosts
Often, the nightmare demon Schrat is in truth a living human. This Schrättlich or Schrätelhexe can easily be identified due to their characteristic eyebrows grown together, the so-called Räzel or Rätzel trait, sometimes applied to the mysterious beings often associated with the Schrat. The appellations Raz, Räzel was likely an apheresis of Shräzel, according to Wilhelm Hertz.In Swabia, the Schratt is a woman suffering from an hereditary ailment known as schrättleweis gehen or Schrattweisgehen which is an affliction usually inherited from one's mother. The afflicted person will have to step out every night at midnight, i.e. the body will lie around as if dead but the soul will have left it in the shape of a white mouse. The Schratt is impelled to "press" something or someone, be it human, cattle, or tree. The nightly Drücken is very exhausting, making the Schratt ill. Only one thing can free the Schratt from her condition. She must be allowed to press the best horse in the stable to death.
According to other Swabian beliefs, the nightmare-bringing Schrat is a child who died unbaptized. In Baden, it is considered a deceased relative of the nightmare victim.
Protective amulets
The Schrat is further known to cause illnesses by shooting arrows. Its arrow is the belemnite, but his stone can also be used to ward the spirit off. Beside the Schrattenstein, it also fears the pentagram and stones of the same name with dinosaur footprints. The Schrätteli can be exterminated by burning the bone whose appearance it takes when morning comes. The same is true for burning the straw caught at night, for in the morning it will become a woman covered with burns and never return again. If it is cut with a Schreckselesmesser, a knife with three crosses on its blade, the Schrettele will also never return again. The Schrat can be kept out of stables by placing the aforementioned wooden Schratlgatter above the stable door, or using a convex mirror called Schratspiegel which also works the same way.Domestic sprite
Middle High German literature
In the Middle High German story "Schrätel und Wasserbär", the kobold haunts a peasant's house, but the Danish king lodges there with the polar bear, and after the encounter with the "giant cat" the spirit is frightened away.A version of this story set in a miller's house in Berneck, Upper Franconia, Bavaria, where a Holzfräulein replaces the Schrätel, and is killed by a "cat".
The Schrätel as a peace-disturber or poltergeist also figures in the Tyrolean poet Hans Vintler's Die Pluemen der Tugent.