CHAPTER V
NAVKY AND RUSALKY
THE souls of children that have died unbaptized, or are born of mothers who have met a violent death, are personified as Navky, this term being cognate with Old Slavic navĭ, Russian navĭe, Little Russian navk ("dead"),14 and being found throughout the Slavic languages—Bulgarian Navi, Navjaci; Little Russian Nejky, Mavky, Majky; Slovenian Navje, Mavje; etc.
In the traditions of the Little Russians the Mavky, who are children either drowned by their mothers or unbaptized, have the appearance of small babies, or of young, beautiful girls with curly hair. They are either half-naked or wear only a white shirt; and on moonlit nights they rock on branches of trees, seeking to attract young people either by imitating the crying of infants or by laughing, giggling, and clapping their hands. Whoever follows their enticing voices will be bewitched by their beauty, and at last will be tickled to death and drawn into deep water. They live in woods and on steppes. Very often they may be seen in young corn; and by day they walk along the fields, crying and wailing. In summer they swim in rivers and lakes, beating the water merrily; during the fairy-week they run about fields and meadows, lamenting, "Mother has borne me and left me unbaptized." They are angry at those who allowed them to die unchristened, and whosoever chances to hear their wailing voices should say, "I baptize thee in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit." This will set them free; but if for seven years they find no one to take pity on them, they are turned into water-nymphs.
