Support the Lietuva.love project

Lithuanian mythological tales

Hay in the Well

Editorial retelling and context

A kaukas asks where to put its load. A farmhand answers without thinking, and in the morning the well is packed with hay.

A general illustration for the folklore library, not a documentary depiction of this story’s setting or characters.
Original AI-generated collection illustration; not a historical document or an image of this particular story.
Genre
Mythological legend
Source status
folkloric
Motifs
careless instruction, hay, well

The story

A kaukas lived at a farm and brought its mistress all kinds of supplies. One night the farmhand was sleeping in the barn.

The kaukas returned with a load and asked where to put it. The farmhand told it to use the well. On this occasion the spirit had brought hay.

In the morning the household found the well stuffed with hay. The kaukas had done exactly what it was told.

Reading the story

This very short legend has a complete sequence: a question, a careless answer and its consequence. A spirit that brings wealth is not necessarily a wise household manager.

Told by Ona Vernickaitė in Veviržėnai; recorded by N. Vėlius in 1962, LTR 3526(221).

Source and retelling

Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), Nr. 523, p. 537: „Šienas šulinyje“. An original retelling of the recorded traditional narrative cited here. The sequence of events and ending are retained in modern language.

Hay in the Well sources