I watch as she wanders through the wood. It is obvious that she is lost and I so wish that I could help! But what can I do? I am the spirit of the wood I know every stone, tree, and creature. I could tell her she is wandering too far from her village. I could tell her the wood is a dangerous place after sunset. I could tell her what monsters lurk in the dark. But alas, in her eyes I am the monster that lurks in the dark.
Her people tell stories of my monstrous nature. I am their Leshen. To the humans of the village on the outskirts of my wood, I am a demon creature that feeds on children and kidnaps maidens. If only they knew I am the only thing stopping the real demons from invading their precious home. I am the protector spirit of this forest. I am flesh and bone, wood and earth. My monstrous size is daunting but I am, at my center, a gentle creature. I serve the natural world around me and protect both the wood and village from harm. Malicious creatures slink in from the west where evil dwells. Every night they push farther into my wood looking for prey and I push them back to the place from whence they came. It will not be long until the sunsets and evil arises. I must find a way to warn this poor girl.
“Say, Brother Squirrel, would you be so kind as to talk to the maiden wandering through our wood? Ask her if she is lost and if so will you kindly guide her back home?” I ask as I pass the hollow of a tree that a family of squirrels calls home.
“Aye, Brother Leshen, I will tell her. But what am I to do if I frighten her and she does not listen?” asks Brother Squirrel.
“Then I will be forced to carry her home. But I hate to frighten her so,” I answer as I send him on his way.
I watch from afar as Brother Squirrel approaches the maiden. I can see terror twist in her face as he begins to speak. She is terrified of a talking squirrel - at least I did not send Brother Wolf. She turns from him and sprints deeper into the wood. Dammit, all! I jump from my perch in an aspen tree and pursue her. My size does nothing to aid my pursuit, I crash through the wood like a stampeding heard of musk ox. My long legs allow me to catch up to her quickly. I scoop up the terrified maiden and throw her over my shoulder. I am sure my rough bark is irritating to her smooth skin. I begin to trudge back to her village while she struggles to break free. If only I could speak with her to ease her fear. But alas, I do not think anything coming from a Leshen who has thrown her over his shoulder would do anything but frighten her more. She is still struggling but to no avail. I am much stronger than this girl. As I trudge along the sun begins to set just as I had feared. I do not believe I will make it back to her village before the demons begin to creep. Panic rises in my mind. What can I do to protect her? Being out after dark by myself is one thing - I can handle the fiends that creep in the night - but with this girl, I am weakened and she is in danger. I must shelter her. With this plan in mind, I divert my course and hasten for my hut. My hut is deep within in the wood but if I hurry I can make it by nightfall.
As I arrive at my hut the last rays of light are fading through the trees. The maiden has given up screaming now and lays limply across my shoulder. I hope I have not hurt her. I enter the hut and lay her gently on a pallet of twigs and leaves. Her eyes are open and I can see her chest rising and falling with breath. She seems dazed but uninjured.
“Listen to me, I beg. I am not going to harm you. Quite the opposite, I am trying to keep you from harm. There are evil things in this wood at night. Things you humans do not understand,” I say calmly, making my voice as sweet as possible, my gravely, earthy tone still audible despite my effort. She blinks but does not respond. I fear she may have fallen into shock.
“I do not anything to place over you for warmth for I do not need such things but I can build you a fire,” I say hoping that she hears and understands. I hope she knows I mean her no harm.
“You,” she utters as my back is turned building the fire, barely loud enough for me to hear. “You are a Leshen. You devour children and kidnap maidens. Now, you have kidnapped me,” she says flatly, still in shock.
“No, no child. I have saved you. I will return you to your people as soon as the sun peaks over the horizon. Do not worry. Rest your eyes,” I say as soothingly as I can but I fear it is of no use. For I am the monster of her dreams. Soon the fire is roaring in the hearth and the maiden finally drifts off to a fitful sleep. I stand watch over her all night, though I know no demon is stupid enough to infiltrate my hut. When the sun starts to rise I gently scoop up her sleeping form and carry her back to her village. I lay her outside the door of the nearest hut to the woods and retreat to the safety of the shadows.
I am the Leshen of this wood and I will protect all who enter even if they call me a monster.
Author’s note: I took the story “The Leshy” from the Russian Fairy Tales unit and imagined what had happened from the Leshy’s (renamed Leshen because of its relation to the monster in The Witcher video games) perspective. This story is a prequel of sorts to the original story. In the source material, a huntsman is exploring the woods outside his village one day with his dog when he comes across a Leshy. The Leshy sits on a fallen log sewing boots and the huntsman thinks that the creature looks both old and young. The Leshy reads the huntsman’s mind and says that he is old and calls himself the father of the devil. The huntsman shoots the Leshy in the gut but the creature does not die. The Leshy drags himself through the woods to his hut with the huntsman and his dog in pursuit. While following the creature the huntsman leaves gashes on trees so that he may find his way back out of the wood and back to the hut if needed. When the huntsman arrives at the hut after the creature he finds a maiden holding the creature who soon dies. The maiden is distraught because she does not know who will take care of her now that the Leshy has died. The huntsman takes the maiden back to the village and asks if anyone knows her. It turns out that the maiden has been missing for three years and is the daughter of a priest. The maiden is given to the huntsman as a wife. The huntsman tries to return to the Leshy’s hut but even with his marked tree, he is not able to find the hut. I thought it would be fun to write a prequel to this story and paint the Leshen as less evil and more misunderstood.
Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston (1887).
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