Estronho e esquésito

There are legends where the Devil is the great villain. And there are others, far more uncomfortable, where he is merely… the second worst in the story. The Basque legend of Errementari, the Blacksmith, belongs to this second category. It does not speak of redemption. It does not speak of just punishment. It speaks of the danger of no longer fitting in anywhere.

For centuries, Scottish folklore has preserved stories where the marvelous and the cruel walk side by side. Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree is not a fairy tale in the modern sense, but an ancient oral legend, recorded in the 19th century and passed down through generations as a warning against envy, pride, and the destruction born within one's own home.

Yukinba is described as a grotesque monster: an aged female figure with a deformed body, often depicted walking or hopping on a single massive leg. Yukifuriba has a more “poetic” name (old woman of the falling snow) and, unlike the monstrous appearance of the Yukinba, looks like a normal elderly woman with white skin and simple clothes — almost a “cadaverous” version of the famous Yuki-onna (the Snow Woman).

In cold regions of northern Japan, especially in Tōhoku, there are ancient reports of a woman who does not fall ill from the cold, does not seek warmth, and cannot survive contact with hot water. She is known as Tsurara-Onna, the Icicle Woman —an entity associated with icicles, harsh winters, and silent death within the home.

Mylingar are entities from Scandinavian folklore associated with the vengeful spirits of children who were victims of infanticide. The belief is especially strong in Sweden but appears with regional variations in Norway (where they are called Utburd) and parts of Finland and Denmark, spanning both the late pagan period and the initial Christianization of the region.