Residents of Alpine villages often place plaster figurines of gnomes in the grass near their houses. In Swiss beliefs, gnomes or, as they are also called, mountain people are kind creatures who live in caves or abandoned huts. Dwarves work with metals and precious stones and love to sing and dance. They eat milk, cheese, bread and pork, that is, everything that shepherds usually eat. Little mountaineers live no more than thirty years, and in the seventh year of life they already become old people. Outwardly, gnomes are not very beautiful. They have wrinkled faces, red eyes, long scraggly beards and large hands. They wear green cloaks and pointed hats. Dwarves often help humans - milking cows and mowing hay. Generous gnomes bring coal to the poor as a gift, which miraculously turns into gold.
Dwarves often came to the residents of a farm located near the village of Villa Saint-Pierre. Each of them had a tiny red cap on their head, and so the farmers nicknamed their little guests “red caps.”
The Red Caps did most of the work on the farm. Waking up in the morning, the peasants were amazed! The grass was cut and stored in the barn, the cows were fed and milked - all that remained was to take the milk to the dairy. During the day, the gnomes never showed themselves to people, but every night they returned to the farm and got to work, and at dawn, cleanliness and order reigned everywhere.
As a reward for their work and care, the owners of the farm had to bring a gift to the Red Caps every time they visited the fair... In those days, peasants went to the fair once a month - either to Romont, or to Fribourg, or to Payerne. At the fair, they met with friends, had a glass or two in warm company, asked the price of goods and were happy, even if they were unable to buy or sell anything. The farm owners always brought a paper bag with cakes to their little helpers - the only thing the gnomes asked for as a gift.
This went on for many years. The gnomes worked at night on the farm, and people brought their favorite delicacy from the fair. But then one day stupid people decided to play a joke on the Red Caps. Returning from the fair, the rude people went to bed without leaving a single cake for the hardworking gnomes. And since then the Red Caps have not appeared. They could not tolerate such an insult and no longer helped the owners of the farm.
This story happened about a hundred years ago. It was told by the peasant Leon Blanc.
In the minds of the Swiss, forest spirits are similar in appearance to gnomes, but they differ from their mountain counterparts in their extremely irritable character. Forest spirits are very fond of animals, especially weak and defenseless deer, chamois and wild goats. And most of all they hate those who invade forests and mercilessly kill animals. Forest spirits have enormous power. To protect and save animals from death, they track down hunters and, sneaking up from behind, throw huge stones at them or push them into the abyss.
In Swiss beliefs, water spirits can sometimes take on human form. They love to roam the city and village streets. On market days, some of them emerge from the bottom of rivers and lakes and, turning into a young man or girl, mix with the festive crowd. Water spirits are green-eyed and tall. They have beautiful long hair. They wear gray hats on their heads. These creatures are very dangerous! Their goal is to drag as many people as possible to the bottom. If on the street or market square a friendly young man in a gray hat or a beautiful girl with green eyes and a long braid suddenly approaches you and invites you to take a walk along the banks of the Rhine or, for example, the Black Lake, do not agree under any circumstances! The walk can end very sadly!
“How to distinguish the inhabitants of the deep waters from ordinary people?” – you ask. There is nothing simpler: you just need to make the suspect smile, because a real water spirit’s teeth are always green.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru