Firedrake (folklore)
Spirit in Russian folklore
title: "Firedrake (folklore)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["slavic-weather-deities", "slavic-legendary-creatures", "russian-mythology", "ukrainian-mythology", "slavic-demons", "legendary-serpents", "fire-in-culture", "fiction-about-meteoroids", "incubi"] description: "Spirit in Russian folklore" topic_path: "geography/russia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firedrake_(folklore)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Spirit in Russian folklore ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Radzivill_chronicle_245-crop.jpg" caption="A fiery dragon (meteorite) that fell from the sky in 1091 during [[Vsevolod Yaroslavich]]'s hunt near [[Vyshgorod]] ― ''[[Radziwiłł Chronicle]]''"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Shooting_Star.jpg" caption="Fiery dragons are said to appear as sparking streaks of light flying across the sky akin to [[shooting star]]s or [[will-o'-the-wisp]]s"] ::
Firedrakes (also spelled fire-drake; , , "fiery serpent"; , "fiery dragon"), among other names, is a European type of dragon, predominantly from Slavic folklore, but also found in Swedish folklore and elsewhere, said to appear as sparking streaks of fire in the sky akin to shooting stars or will-o'-the-wisps. Such are primarily evil beings, more then often shapeshifted demons or spiritis.
Appearance
In East Slavic tradition, the "fiery serpent" is said to generally resemble a fiery shaft (, "fiery carrying pole"), a flaming broom, or a glowing ball of blue fire, releasing sparks during its flight.
In Swedish folklore, the flogdrake has been given the analogy of a fiery steelyard balance, firebroom, or flaming sheaf of straw. It lacks any visible limbs to wings, and is said to appear in the evening sky surrounded by sparks, looking like a golden stripe that sweeps across the sky.
File:Bolide.jpg|a flying bolide meteor File:Besman (ur Nordisk familjebok).png|old Swedish steelyard balance
The origin of the image
The firedrake beliefs stems from inexplicable sightings of shooting stars, bolides, and comets, seen as streaks of light flying across the sky, and sometimes crashing and boring into the ground. The association with dragons is not unique to Slavic folklore, and appears variously across Europe to some extent. Similar being also appear in other parts of the world – .
Eastern myth
The origin of the Slavic myth is unknown, and the "fiery serpent" appears across the pan-Slavic world. The folklore mirrors various European folklore regarding demons and spirits (gnomes, wights, etc) shapeshifting into dragons (serpents) in order to protect and gather treasure, a motif seen in famous stories such as the Völsunga saga, and also connecting to the myth of "that which lies under a serpent grows with it", ie, dragons broods treasure to get richer. Other gnome traditions also carry over, such as the egg-lore of the Schrat etc (see ).
According to Russian folk belief (around Tula), when the archangel Michael cast down the fallen angels, some of these devils evaded falling down to earth, and remained flying in the atmosphere in the form of fiery serpents.
Western myth
As opposed to Slavic myth, where the fiery serpent is a unique folklorean entity, in western myth, firedrakes are rather ambiguous with dragons, shooting stars, and will-o'-the-wisps, in general.
Even in Sweden, where the firedrake is more defined (see flogdrake), descriptions are sometimes generic, simply referring to it as "the dragon". Swedish archivist wrote in 1947 the following in his book about Bohuslän legends:
The old talk about the dragon. He came like a firebroom, it was as if someone had set fire to a sheaf of straw. He flew high in the air. Most people thought it was the devil, but some said that it couldn't be, because he wouldn't be let loose until the end of time. Then there were some who thought it would be the Last Judgment when they saw a dragon.
Per the above, such phenomenons have also been associated with the devil etc.
Slavic folklore
Description
Demons took on various shapes, and the "fiery serpent" of the East and West Slavs, as well as the "flying serpent" of the Southern Slavs appeared as serpents in air, and as humans on ground. It releases sparks during its flight and enters the (women's) house through the chimney.
The serpent may bring gifts, but those gifts turn to horse manure at sunrise (Russian, west-Ukrainian).
The evil spirit reputedly visits the woman at night-time (this may be a literary convention. Fet's poem, ). Women who were widowed, or separated from her husband was particularly vulnerable to having affairs with this certain type of devil, because the devil will assume the shape of the dead or absentee husband. In their grief, and their desperation to be rejoined with their lost love, women do not recognize the serpent and become convinced that their lover has returned.
It is told that those who are visited by the serpent experience weight loss, exhibit signs of insanity and eventually commit suicide, or wither and die. In addition, victims of the serpent often experience hallucinations, including visions of supernatural torment, such as suckling on breasts which excrete blood rather than milk.
There are several ways to distinguish and identify the fiery serpent. Like any demon, it has no spinal cord (Russian). and a woman can test if it is the real husband by feeling for his spine. It cannot correctly pronounce sacred Christian names, and instead of "Jesus Christ" (Иисус Христос) the serpent may say "Sus Christ" (Сус Христос), or instead of ru (Богородица, Mother of God) it can only say ru (Чудородица). Other sources say the fiery serpent lacks the ability to hear and speak properly. And though the body may be human, it is multi-headed (Voronezh, Ukraine).
Superstition prescribes certain ways to ward against the devil, for example, the magical herb (possibly valerian), or a decoction of burdock or its root stuck on the wall may serve as amulet (Russia). Reading the Psalter in a house where the serpent has already visited may help; or making the sign of the cross at entry points, such as window, door or stovepipe.
Mythology also tells that the fiery serpent had a son by a human woman, and she bore a werewolf (оборотень), the "Fiery Serpent Wolf" (ru; Змей Огненный Волк). This son combatted and defeated his father. In Serbian epic literature, around the 15th century a mythical hero was transferred on to historical figures, namely, "Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk" (Змај Огњени Вук "Vuk the Fire Serpent/Dragon"; Vuk means "wolf") became the double of Vuk Grgurević.
Thus women can have the fiery serpent's children, and illegitimate births are still often explained as such devil spawn. If a woman conceives a child with such a devil, the pregnancy will be exceedingly long, and the child will be born with black skin, with hooves instead of feet, eyes without eyelids and a cold body (Russia), or its body will be cold and jelly-like (East Ukraine). Such births are not viable, and the children die.
Egg lore{{anchor|Egg lore}}
The wealth-bringing demon can be bred from an egg of a chicken (sometimes rooster, below) aged 3, 5, 7, or 9, according to Slavic legend. In Russian, this demon is referred to as either ognennyi zmei ("fiery serpent") or ru (analog to Ukrainian khovanets, хованец, uk, вихованець, a Ukrainian house spirit born from eggs) or perhaps just as "serpent" or "flying serpent". The creature that hatches is in the shape of a cat, according to Pavel Vasilievich Shejn, though it make take on the shape of either a cat, a train of fire, fire-sparks, or a young chicken according to a different source. At any rate, it transforms into a fiery streak at night to steal money, or grain for the house or landlady who hosts it, and in return it is expected to be fed Scrambled eggs or omelettes).
In Belarus, it is said that an egg laid by a (black) rooster (unusually shaped, like a snail) must be carried in one's bosom for 1 to 7 years (var. under the armpit for 3 years) for the small flying serpent to hatch. The Belarusian flying serpent is also referred to as in kletnik (клетнік. ) and favours fried eggs or a scrambled eggs dish (; be) that is not overly salty.
Historic examples
An early sighting of the "fiery serpent" was recorded in a chronicle entry for the year 1092, which tells that the clouds darkened, and a great, three-headed snake with the heads aflame craned out of it, issuing fumes and noises, according to Ukraine writer . The year 1092 was one of calamaities in Kievan Russia and Polotsk in Belarus according to the Primary Chronicle.
The preceding year, 1091, was also fraught with portents, such as the solar eclipse. Vsevolod Yaroslavich during hunt near Vyshgorod in 1091, witnessed a dragon-meteorite falling from the sky, as illustrated in the Radziwiłł Chronicle copy of the Primary Chronicle ( fig. at top), which has been recognized as an instance of a "fiery dragon" sighting.
In literature
Myths about the fiery serpent are found in Serbian epic songs as well as Russian byliny, and fairy tales (skazka). The term "fiery serpent" applied (sometimes) to the archetypal evil dragon dispatched by the dragon-slaying hero of bylina, such as Dobrynya Nikitich.
There has been recorded the spell or zagovory (заговор) to protect a woman against the incursion of the flying serpent, and the lengthy recitation names the "fiery serpent". Another spell, for a military man going to war, also invokes the "fiery serpent". There is an incantation (Ukrainian: Замовляння, uk) acting as a love charm, where the fire serpent is supposed to act as a magical creature which arouses a woman's passion.
In The Tale of Peter and Fevronia (16th century), this devil in serpent form flew to the wife of Prince Pavel, brother of Prince Peter of Murom.
The image of a fiery serpent was described by the Russian poet Afanasy Afanasievich Fet in his ballad, ru (Змей, "Serpent"), written in 1847, where a young widow is visited by a serpent from the night sky.
The perelesnyk features in the play The Forest Song (1911) by Ukrainian writer Lesia Ukrainka.
Eastern Europe
Belarus
The fiery "flying serpent"（летучий змей, лятучага змея; be of Belarus exhibit two aspects, that of the wealth-bringing spirit and that of the "mythological lover" (i.e., mythological creature as lover). The fiery flying serpent of the house is also designated be or be (клетнік, from клеці, "granary, pantry", where it is said to dwell). The Belarusian flying serpent likes to be fed fried eggs or scrambled eggs (; be) that must not be overly salty, lest it anger the demon which will exact some form of retribution using fire. If someone is doing unusually well financially, others will quip about him that "the serpent brings him money" (Яму змей грошы носіць).
The "wealth-bringing spirit" motif is related to various house spirit myths of Europe, such as the Nordic gnome (nisse), wight (vätte) and Estonian kratt (among others), which helps around the farm and bring wealth to those they like, but they also collect treasure, which they guard by shapeshifting into dragons and thereof. This myth is further related to myths of undeads resurrecting as various monsters, not uncommonly dragons, to guard something precious, such as a buried treasure, a grave or a past home, further the root of various ghostlore.
Poland
The Polish version is latawiec ('the flying one') which was originally an air spirit that could conjure up winds, and regarded as a sort of bird with plumage, though the witch's endeared one is described as a hairy little man, also appearing in the guise of a serpent. There is conflation between the demon latawiec and the house sprite skrzat ( , Estonian Swedish skrat, ). The latawiec-skrzat demands milk kasha (kaszą) or porridge, but it must not be too hot or it will anger the spirit.
Russia
One story recounts how the flying serpent (Russian: змей летающий; ru) had an affair with a certain woman, but would remove his wings and tuck them under the roof, before entering her house and making his dalliances. A gypsy (cygán) noticed and hid the wings, compelling the serpent never to see the woman again (Tula Governorate).
A legend about the letun ("flyer"), i.e. fiery dragon recorded in the old capital of Pereslavl-Zalessky, describes a woman who believed she was visited by her dead husband and wasted away. The family took measures to drive it out, hiring a woman to read the psalter, and awaiting in guard of the woman as it visited. The father-in-law's threat of strangulation kept it away.
A shooting star in the steppes is considered a "fiery serpent" according to folk belief. An incident is recollected by , mine engineer and writer that when a meteor streaked the sky in the Siberian taiga, workers started shouting "zmei (serpent)!" as the meteor was called ognennyi zmei colloquially, and the older men took them to be either a good or bad omen.
Serbia
In Serbia, a fire serpent is classed as a being in the "dragon-meteorite" category, which is generally benevolent and can mate with human females, but are also blamed for droughts when they overstay their welcome.
It is also contended the Serbian epic ballads call it ognjanik or ognyanik (огњаник, which could mean 'fireworks'). This South Slavic ognyanik dwells in mountain caves, sometimes above the clouds. The dragon is covered in scales, and breathes fire, sometimes its mouth glinting like a flash of lightning. The ognyanik of legend has heroic prowess, hoards treasures, knows herbal lore including aphrodisiacs, charms women.
There is Serbian epic song entitled "Zmaj ognjeni i troglav Arapin (The fiery dragon and the three-headed Arab)".
Ukraine
In Ukraine, the pan-Slavic "fiery serpent" has been termed ru (вогняний змій, "fiery serpent"). It is primarily a demon in the form of a fiery snake (meteor) that flies towards women.
According to Eastern Ukrainian legends, whilst traveling, the fiery serpent strews beautiful gifts along the road to lure grieving women and villagers, including beads, rings, belts/girdles and handkerchiefs/headscarves. If the woman then picks it up, the evil spirit will fly to her.
In Ukraine, there is also the belief that the spirit of the dead husband turns into a perelesnyk and visits the bereaved wife, especially if the widow's yearning for him is strong, visiting his grave frequently, etc. But the perelesnyk is harmful, draining her by drinking blood, or suffocating her. He is difficult to eradicate, requiring the service of a ({{linktext|ворожбит}}, soothsayer) with a spell or potion. (Cf. Legend of Russian letun above).
Northern Europe
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Europe_subregion_map_UN_geoscheme.svg" caption="[[Eastern Europe]]}}"] ::
Estonia
Main article: Kratt
The Estonian kratt (Estonian Swedish: skrat) can manifest itself as a fiery being with a sparking tail, which in some variants is a dragon analog to the fiery serpent of Swedish folklore: flogdrake, intended as a mean to guard and transport their treasures. The Swedish flogdrake was likewise thought to transport treasure it had stolen. The kratt is also related to the Swedish folklore of Nordic gnomes and wights, which also are said to transform themselves into dragons and thereof to both guard and transport their treasures. The same motif is also found in the related Northern German Schrat (, ), which likewise can transform into a dragon to handle treasure and thereof.
Some commentators see some parallel between the Belarus flying serpent, however, unlike the Belarusian fiery serpent described above, the Estonian version fails to act as an ardent lover to a human woman.
Great Britain
In English, the analog term is firedrake (fire-drake), ambiguous with "fiery dragon" and "fiery meteor", as well as will-o'-the-wisp. The lexicographer James Murray wrote for the former the following definition in volume 5 of the Oxford English Dictionary (1901), but does not elaborate further:
A 'fiery dragon'; a mythical creature belonging to Germanic superstition.
Interestingly, the term utilizes the inherited indigenous form drake (), instead of the more common French borrowing dragon (). The construction appears as early as Beowulf ( from the 8th to the 9th century:
Þa wæs þeodsceaða, þriddan siðe, frecne fyrdraca, fæhða ȝemyndiȝ. | There were great scathe, for a third time, freakish firedrake, feuding in mind.
Lecturer William Fulke, in his book of meteors (1563), used the term "flying dragon" (interestingly analog to Swedish flogdrake) as the primary name for dragon-like will-o'-the-wisps, specifying that "firedrake" is the term used by "Englishmen":
Of flying Dragons or fire-Drakes. Flying Dragons, or as Englishmen call them, fire-Drakes, be caused on this manner. When a certain quantity of vapors are gathered togetber on a heap, being very near compact, & as it were hard tempered togetber, this lump of vapors ascending to the region of cold, is forcibly beaten back, which violence of moving is sufficient to kindle it; although some men will have it to be caused between two clouds, a hot and a cold; then the highest part, which was climbing upward, being by reason more subtile and thin, appeareth as the Dragons neck, smoking, for that it was lately in the repulse bowed or made crooked, to represent the Dragons belly. The last part by the same repulse turned upward, make the tayl, appearing dmaller, for that it is both further off, and also for that the cold bindeth it. This Dragon thus being caased, flieth along in the air, and sometime turneth to and fro, if it meet with a cold cloud to beat it back, to the great terrour of them that behold it: of whom some call it a fire-Drake: some say it is the Devil himself, and so make report to others.
Fulke also goes on to tell a story of when such a phenomenon was thought by locals to be the devil flying over London:
More than 47. years ago, on May day, when many young folk went abroad early in the morning, I remember by fix of the clock in the forenoon, there was news come to London, that the Devil, the fame morning, was seen flying over the Thames: afterward came word that he lighted at Stratford, and there was taken and set in the Stocks, and that though he would fain have dissembled the matter, by turning bimfelf into the likeness of a man, yet was he known well enough by his cloven foot. I knew some then living, that went to see him, and returning, affirmed, that he was feen flying in the air, but was not taken prisoner. I remember also, that some wished he had been shot at with Guns or shafts, as he flew over the Thames. Thus do ignorant men judge of these things that they know nor. As for this Devil, I suppose it was a flying Dragon, whereof we speak, very fearfull to look upon, as though he had life, because he moveth, whereas it is nothing else but clouds and smoak: so mighty is God, that he can fear his enemies with these and such like operations, whereof some examples may be found in holy Scripture.
Various poets have used the term as a kenning or noa-name for the devil, or other personification of evil and deceit, etc:
-
John Gower (1393):{{Verse translation| Somtime the firedrake it semeth, And so the lewde people it demeth. | Sometime the firedrake it seems (appears) And so the lewd people it deems (tests of virtue/fortitude)
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John Skelton (1522):{{Verse translation| |That he wolde than make / The devyls to quake, |To shudder and to shake, / Lyke a fyerdrake. | |That he would than make / The devils to quake, |To shudder and to shake, / Like a firedrake.
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George Wilkins (1607): :Who should be lamps to comfort out our way, And not like firedrakes to lead men astray.
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"Tom o' Bedlam" (): :When I short have shorn my sow's face / And swigged my horny barrel, / In an oaken inn I pound my skin / As a suit of gilt apparel; The moon's my constant mistress, / And the lowly owl my marrow; The flaming drake and the night crow make / Me music to my sorrow.
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George Chapman (1631): :So have I seen a fire drake glide at midnight / before a dying man to point his grave, / and in it stick and hide.
Lithuania
Some commentators see some parallel between the Belarus flying serpent, etc., with the Lithuanian aitvaras, which also brings riches, love to be fed egg dishes, and retributes using fire. But similar lore may be widespread simply due to the pan-European mythology of basilisks disseminated during medieval times, or perhaps somewhat later in the 16th century.
Sweden
Main article: Flogdrake
The Swedish version is historically called flogdrake (Old Swedish: floghdraki, "fly-dragon"), elddrake ("fire dragon") or eldsdrake ("fiery dragon"). Whether mythologically related to the Slavic tradition, it stems from seeing light phenomenons in the sky. It is a wingless worm-dragon that flies across the sky while glowing, looking like a streak of fire or light akin to a shooting star, living in mountain tunnels that it drills, called drakarör ("dragon tubes").
Some interpret the fire streak phenomenon as the dragon "firing over his possessions" or "illuminating his goods", and thus pointing out where the treasure or dragon's nest is to be found. Other interpret the fire streak as the dragon itself.
Names
::data[format=table]
| Country | Name | Etymology |
|---|---|---|
| Belarus Belarusian | be (летучий змей){{sfnp | Kõiva |
| UK English | firedrake, fire-drake | from , "fiery dragon" |
| flying dragon | rare form; , , , летун, | |
| Poland Polish | latawiec | "the flying one", associated with the wind |
| Russia Russian | ru (огненный змей) | "fiery serpent" |
| ru (змей огненный) | "serpent of fire" | |
| ru (змей-любак) | "serpent-lyubak" | |
| ru (хованец) | (uk), вихованець (), "pupil, fosterling, nurseling", a Ukrainian house-spirit born from eggs | |
| ru (налётник) | "raider", | |
| ru (налёт) | "raid", | |
| ru (летун) | "flyer", | |
| ru (летучий) | "flying one" | |
| ru (литавец) | "flying one", same form as , found in southern Russia | |
| ru (маньяк) | "beckoner", from "манить, ru, "to beckon" | |
| ru (прелестник) | "charmer" | |
| Serbia Serbian | sr (огнаник) | "fiery one", in the Serbian epic ballads |
| sr (змај огњени) | "fiery dragon", in the Serbian epic ballads | |
| Sweden Swedish | flogdrake | "fly-dragon" (archaic from of flygdrake), from Old Swedish floghdraki, flughdraki, a literary loan from Old West Norse flugdreki ("flying dragon"). |
| elddrake | "fire dragon" | |
| eldsdrake | "fiery dragon" | |
| Ukraine Ukrainian | uk (перелесник) | "tempter, seducer" |
| uk (переве́сник) | "tempter, seducer" reconstructed ancestral form *per-lьstьnik'ъ | |
| uk (первонач) | "tempter, seducer" | |
| uk літа́вець) | "flying one", also in southern Russian: литавец | |
| uk (літу́н) | "flyer", | |
| uk (налі́т) | "raid", | |
| uk (налі́тник) | "raider", | |
| ru (вогняний змій) | "fire serpent", Ukrainian term for the pan-Slavic "fiery serpent" | |
| :: |
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
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