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Lithuanian mythological tales

Milking a Towel

Editorial retelling and context

A man comes to borrow a sharper axe and glances through a pantry door. Inside, his neighbour is milking a towel that hangs on the wall.

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Original AI-generated collection illustration; not a historical document or an image of this particular story.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
towel, milk, open pantry, unexpected witness

The story

A man needed a sharper axe, so he went to borrow one from a neighbour. The pantry door stood ajar, and he could not resist looking inside.

The mistress was milking a towel hanging on the wall. Milk streamed from it straight into a bucket.

Until then, no one had suspected that this woman might be a sorceress. In the tale, an unexpected glance through a doorway exposes her hidden power.

Reading the story

The text describes the discovery of supposed milk magic, without saying whose cows supply the milk or giving instructions for the spell. Calling the neighbour a sorceress is the legend’s interpretation.

Told by Liuda Pranskūnienė in Vainaikiai, Duokiškis area; recorded by K. Markelis in 1926. LTR 2989(421).

Source and retelling

Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), Nr. 410, p. 465: „Melžiamas rankšluostis“. An original retelling of the recorded traditional narrative cited here. The sequence of events and ending are retained in modern language.

Milking a Towel sources