In ancient Slavic concepts, the water spirit is a demon who always guards his reservoir and does not forgive those who do not respect him. The perpetrators risk being drowned or severely disfigured.
The water spirit is known by several names depending on the area. In Russia, for example, he is "Water" ("Water grandfather"), in Poland - "Vodnik". However, his behavior, appearance and background vary greatly.
Master werewolf, Merman is never portrayed as a beautiful creature. Sometimes he looks like an old, naked grandfather with a long greenish or white beard, a frog-like face, and long hair. In other cases, it can be an animal, child, or gnome.
As a child, his head is too big in relation to the body. He is sometimes depicted with huge toes, horns, claws, a fish's tail and glowing eyes on a human face. Its body is covered with algae and mud, or it looks like a moss-covered fish or even the trunk of a flying tree.
The underwater kingdom is his permanent habitat. He lives in rivers, lakes, ponds, wells, puddles and in the immediate vicinity of mills, but is not associated with sea water, it is even believed that it is dangerous, if not even deadly for him.
It is known that Vodyanoy, one of the many Slavic spirits, is extremely evil, but at the same time he can be benevolent. He guaranteed the sailors a safe journey and provided them with a good catch. However, it happened that he dragged them under the water, and, as the ancient fishermen believed, made his victims slaves in his crystal abode under the waves. When angry, he can destroy dams or watermills.
He can lie for hours, waiting for people and animals to drag them under the water until his death.
According to one belief, he even drowns those who wash at midnight or noon. It was believed that the dark marks on the bodies of drowning people were bruises from their struggle with an evil spirit.
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It is believed that the return of the drowned man makes the spirit angry because he wants to save his prey. He also dislikes daylight, but according to some beliefs, he can appear among the villagers and pretend to be one of them, although his true nature can be easily recognized by the water flowing from the left side of his coat.
Otherwise, the Merman, the owner of the waters, can hide all day, appearing only at night. He has incredible strength, but only when he is in the water, and on land he is very weak.
Ancient people believed that everything that happened in the water was done by the will of the Water One.
MIKHAILOV ALEXEY