Kaukas
Also called Kauks, Kaukai.
Kaukas is the Lithuanian household spirit that brings its keeper wealth taken from others, appearing as a small man, a goblin, or a fiery flying serpent, and guarding what it has gathered.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Baltic folklore
- Region
- Lithuania (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Hearth-Bound
- Symbols
- Dragon
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
The descriptions vary between a small bearded man, a goblin-like figure, and a fiery trailing serpent or dragon seen flying at night — the last of these being the form in which it is said to travel, carrying what it has taken.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Serpentine elongated body
why
a fiery trailing serpent or dragon
Behaviour
- Bound to a specific household location
why
It attaches itself to a household and enriches it, and the enrichment is understood to come from somewhere: grain and money arrive from neighbours' stores. The relationship follows the pattern common to such spirits.
- Domestic spirit helps or harms based on treatment
why
It must be fed and kept properly, often with specific food set aside for it, and the household that neglects it loses both the spirit and the prosperity.
Sight and sound
- Body wreathed in flames
why
a fiery trailing serpent or dragon seen flying at night
Utility powers
- Wealth attraction
why
It attaches itself to a household and enriches it, and the enrichment is understood to come from somewhere: grain and money arrive from neighbours' stores. The relationship follows the pattern common to such spirits.
- Shapeshifting
why
The descriptions vary between a small bearded man, a goblin-like figure, and a fiery trailing serpent or dragon seen flying at night — the last of these being the form in which it is said to travel, carrying what it has taken.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Serpent carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Kaukas."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Kaukas."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kaukas."