Kobold

The house is asleep and the fire is down to embers, and something small is moving in the kitchen. It sweeps the hearth, sets the pots straight, carries fresh straw to the cattle, and combs the tails of the horses until they shine. By the time the maid comes down at first light the work is already done, and a bowl of milk left out the night before sits empty on the sill. Nobody has seen the worker. Nobody ever really does. This is the bargain of the kobold, and for as long as both sides keep it, it holds.

Kobolds are the household spirits of German folklore, and they have been keeping people company for a very long time. The name turns up in writing by the thirteenth century, built most likely from an old word for a hut or small room joined to a word for a spirit or a friendly, ruling power, so that the creature is quite literally the authority of the house. They are known across the German lands under a crowd of local names, Hütchen and Heinzelmann and Chimmeken and a dozen more, but the pattern beneath the names stays remarkably steady. A kobold attaches itself to a place and a family. It works for them. It expects to be fed and left alone, and it keeps a long memory for insults.

The old sources are unusually specific about how to get one. According to the thirteenth-century poet Conrad of Würzburg, medieval Germans carved kobold figures from boxwood and wax, one to two feet high, gave them bright clothing and wide grinning mouths, and set them up in a corner of the room. A spirit was thought to take up residence inside the image, and from there it went to work. That is a strange thing to know about a house spirit, that people once whittled the vessel for it and waited. Mandrake root served the same purpose in other tellings. Once installed, the kobold was rarely seen, since it preferred to stay invisible and could materialise as a cat, a small flame, a person, or a household object when it chose.

Its temperament is the whole of the story. Fed and respected, it is tireless and generous, tending animals, finishing chores, sometimes bringing coins or luck to the family it favours. Cross it and the same helper becomes a torment. It hides tools where they cannot be found, tips over anyone who bends down at the wrong moment, sours the milk, and rattles through the house at night. The trick that runs through the tales is that you cannot really get rid of it. A family that moved house to escape one often found the kobold waiting in the new place, having come along with the furniture.

The named ones show how far the spite could go. Hödekin, also called Hütchen for the little felt hat he wore pulled down over his face, lived with the bishop of Hildesheim in the twelfth century and once woke him to warn of a murder. He was a good servant, but a scullion in the bishop’s kitchen made the mistake of mocking him and throwing filth at him. Hödekin complained, was ignored, and took the matter into his own hands. He strangled the boy, cut him into pieces, and set them to cook in a pot on the kitchen fire. King Goldemar was gentler company. He lived three years at Castle Hardenstein, invisible, playing the harp beautifully in the dark and even sharing his host’s bed, his hands thin and cold and soft to the touch, like a frog’s. He asked only for a place at the table and a stall for horses no one could see. He left for good when someone scattered ashes and peas on the floor to trip him and glimpse his feet. A kobold does not forgive being spied on.

Underground, the same spirit wore a harder face. Mine kobolds were hunched and ugly where the house-kobold was homely, and their relationship with the miners who shared their darkness was more dangerous. A knocking in the rock might be a kobold leading a man toward a rich vein, or it might be a warning of the roof about to come down, and part of the miner’s skill was telling which. When the ore turned out worthless or poisonous, the kobold got the blame. German miners cursed a particular silver-coloured rock that yielded nothing good and sickened those who worked it, and named the spirit responsible in the metal itself. That metal is cobalt. The English word carries the kobold’s grudge down to the periodic table.

There is a version of the kobold for every place a German might work and fear. On ships it became the Klabautermann, hammering at leaks below deck and abandoning the vessel only when it was doomed. Its powers are small and practical, the reach of a spirit bound to one hearth or one shaft: unseen labour, foreknowledge of danger, the shifting of shape, the working of small mischief or small blessing. Its weaknesses are the mirror of that binding. It can be starved out of favour, driven to violence by mockery, and it depends utterly on the courtesy of the people it lives among. Feed it and speak well of it and it is the finest help in the house. Forget it once too often and you learn why the old families were so careful to leave the milk out.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Kobold in German folklore?

A Kobold is a small household or underground spirit from German and Germanic folklore, usually invisible, that performs chores and brings good fortune to a family in exchange for food and respect. When neglected or insulted it turns malicious, hiding tools, spoiling food, and in some tales killing those who wrong it.

What does a Kobold look like?

A Kobold is most often described as a humanlike figure the size of a small child, with a long nose and pointed ears. House kobolds wear peasant clothing, mine kobolds are hunched and ugly, and the spirit can also take the form of an animal, a flame, or an ordinary object, since it usually stays invisible.

How is the element cobalt connected to the Kobold?

The metal cobalt is named after the Kobold. German miners blamed the spirit for a silver-coloured ore that yielded no useful metal and released poisonous, arsenic-laden fumes that sickened them, and the troublesome rock took the creature’s name.

Who was Hödekin the Kobold?

Hödekin, also called Hütchen for the little hat he wore, was a famous kobold who lived with the bishop of Hildesheim in the twelfth century and once warned him of a planned murder. When a kitchen boy mocked and threw filth at him, Hödekin killed the boy, dismembered him, and cooked the pieces in a pot, a warning of how dangerous a slighted kobold could be.

How do you keep a Kobold happy?

A Kobold is kept content by leaving it food and drink, traditionally a bowl of milk set out in the same place each night, and by never mocking, neglecting, or spying on it. A respected kobold works tirelessly and brings luck, while an offended one becomes destructive and cannot easily be driven away.

Related Entries

Heinzelmännchen, Klabautermann, Nisse, Tomte, Domovoi, Kikimora, Brownie, Hobgoblin, Goblin, Knocker, Coblynau, Kobalos, Duende, Gnome, Puck