Rubezahl etc.

[ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN]

My response to David Cooper seems not to have made it onto the list, so
I'll try again.

In his _Slownik mitow i tradycji kultury_ (Warsaw:  PIW, 1985),
Wladyslaw Kopalinski has the following entry for RUBEZAHL:

                Skarbnik, Karkonosz, spirit of the Karkonosze
                [Mountains], fearsome hero of German-Silesian
                tales and folk legends.  German humanists in the
                16th century gave him the scholarly name "Riphean
                Devil", Riphen-Zabel, from the then current name
                of the mountains (Latin Riphaei Montes), which later
                became Rube-Zagel and finally Rubezahl.  German
                _Zagel_, from medieval Latin _zabulus_ from Greek
                _diabolos_, in time took on the form _Zahl_.  Clearly
                _Rube_ has nothing to do with [Polish] _rzepa_
                ['turnip'], nor does _Zahl_ have anything to do with
                [its German homonym _Zahl_ meaning] 'number'; thus
                the Polish name _Liczyrzepa_ ['turnip-counter'] is
                erroneous, being based on a misunderstanding (according
                to [Polish linguist] Stanislaw Rospond).

Under the name LICZYRZEPA Kopalinski adds the names Rzepolicz and
Rzepior, which he describes as having been created "after the
recovery of Silesia in 1945."  The author gives a cross-reference
to his entry under SKARB for _skarbnik_ or _skarbek_, "a mine
spirit in the folk tradition of Silesia and the Cracow region,
the fearsome and vengeful ruler of the souls of miners who died
in the mines and overseer of ores and treasures..."  "He appears
as a gray-bearded old man..., sometimes dressed as a miner...,
sometimes as a dog, a black cat or a mouse..."

A collection of Polish legends compiled by Marian Orlon & Jan
Tyszkiewicz, _Legendy i podania polskie_ (Warsaw: Wyd. PTTK
"Kraj", 1986), includes a story entitled "Liczyrzepa," which
tells about a gnome who indeed counts turnips, and one called
"Skarbnik--duch slaskich kopaln."  The annotation to the former
refers to Julian Krzyzanowski's catalog of Polish folktales,
_Polska bajka ludowa w ukladzie systematycznym_ (Wroclaw:
Ossolineum, 1962-63), types 651, 6500 and others, while the
annotation to the latter refers to Krzyzanowski's types 6500,
535, 690-91 and 8011-8016, and to S. Wasylewski, _Legendy i
basnie slaskie_ (Katowice:  Slask, 1957).  There is also an
entry on SKARBNIK in Krzyzanowski's _Slownik folkloru polskiego_
(Warsaw:  WP, 1965).
                        Bob Rothstein