The Schrat () or Schratt, also Schraz or Waldschrat (forest Schrat), is a rather diverse German and Slavic legendary creature with aspects of either a wood sprite, domestic sprite and/or a nightmare demon. In other languages it is further known as Skrat.Hastings, James; Selbie, James A., edd. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 8, p. 628, Kessinger Publishing, 2003 .
Etymology The word Schrat originates in the same word root as Old Norse skrati, skratti (sorcerer, giant), Icelandic (devil) and vatnskratti (water sprite), Swedish (fool, sorcerer, devil), and English (devil).
The German term entered Slavic languages and (via North Germanic languages) Finno-Ugric ones as well. Examples are Polish skrzat, skrzot (domestic sprite, dwarf), Czech , (domestic sprite, gold bringing devil/mining sprite), Slovene (domestic sprite, mining sprite), and (corn or gold-bringing being, whirlwind, Polish plait) as well as Estonian , (domestic sprite, "treasure/wealth-bringer", comparable to Schratt).
Medieval attestations
The Schrat is first attested in Medieval sources. Old High German sources have scrato, scrat, scraz, scraaz, skrez,screiz, waltscrate (walt = forest), screzzolscratto, sklezzo, slezzo, and sletto (pl. scrazza, screzza, screza, waltscraze, waltsraze).
Middle High German sources give the forms schrat, schrate, waltschrate, waltschrat, schretel, schretelîn, schretlin, schretlein, schraz, schrawaz, schreczl, schreczlein, schreczlîn or schreczlin, and waltscherekken (forest terror; also the pl. schletzen).
In Old High German sources, the word is used to translate the Latin terms referring to wood sprites and nightmare demons, such as pilosi (hairy sprites), fauni (fauns), satiri, (satyrs), silvestres homines (forest humans), incubus, incubator, and larva (spirit of the dead). Accordingly, the earliest known Schrat was likely a furry or hairy fiend or an anthropomorphic or theriomorphic spirit dwelling in the woods and causing nightmares.
Middle High German sources continued to translate satyrus and incubus as Schrat, indicating it was considered a wood sprite or nightmare demon, but another vocabularium glossed Schrat as penates (domestic sprite).
The Middle High German story "Schrätel und Wasserbär (polar bear)" (13th cent.), where the spirit haunts a peasant's house in Denmark is considered "genuine" house spirit (kobold) material.
The medieval tradition of offering the or (i.e. ) pairs of little red shoes was preached as sin by Martin von Amberg (c. 1350–1400).
Diminutive forms The Schrat is known by numerous diminutive forms, many of which take on the sense of Alp, a nightmare demon. That is to say, many of these carry the sense of an Alptraum (oppressive dream, nightmare) demon or sickness demon especially in the south (Cf. ). But Schrat diminutives may also refer to a house spirit (kobold, cf. ) or a stable-haunting being (that haunt stables and homes, shearing manes, braiding elflocks, and suckling on livestock and human mothers).
The diminutive form Schrätel, for example, is ambivalent, and is discussed below under both a "dream demon" and "household sprite."
To name other such forms, unsorted into specific spirit types: Schrätlein, Schrättlein; Schrättling; Schrötele, Schröttele, Schröttlich, Schreitel; Schrätzlein; and Schlaarzla, Schrähelein.
Wood sprite The Waldschrat is a solitary wood sprite looking scraggily, shaggily, partially like an animal, with eyebrows grown together, and wolf teeth in its mouth., as summarized by Hans Pehl in the HdA.
But this is a hotchpotch profile put together from disparate sources. Grimm gave attestations of Waldschrat in medieval romances (Barlaam und Josaphat,"wilder waltschrate": : ed. Pfeiffer, Franz (1843), p. 251, line 14. Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet"schraze wart geslagen" v. 487, i.e., the hero received a "cut from the little troll", aka the dwarf armed with a long whip. by Thomas Kerth (2005), p. 32) and the poem "Waldschrat" which is a retelling of Bonerius Fable No. 91,XVIII. (66.) "" in 54vv, in Altdeutsche Wälder 3: 225–227Bonerius No. 91 "", tr. Albrecht Classen (2020), pp. 216–218. none of which provide much physical description except being "dwarf" sized. The Schrat as Waldgeist is physically described as hairy in commentary by Karl Joseph Simrock, and is equated with Räzel (described further under ); in particular, the trait of the single joined eyebrow, is held to be common to the woodland schrat, the Alp, and sorcerers (cf. ), some capable of werewolf-transformation. The last bit (wolflike teeth) appears to be clipped from the description of the "" encountered in the Middle Dutch version of the story of St. Brendan's Voyage. These Walschrande were described as having swines' heads, wolves' teeth, human hands, and hounds' legs that were shaggy.Blommaert, Philip ed. (1838). , p. 116 (pp. 91–120). Celtic origin has been argued in scholarship concerning the schrat in the Arthurian cycle works (e.g. Ulrich's Lanzelet, adaptation of Lancelot) and the legend of St. Brendan who was an Irish monk.
The Austrian Schrat (pl. Schratln) or Waldkobold looks like the creature as described above: it is small and usually solitary. The Schratln love the deep, dark forest and will move away if the forest is logged. The Schrat likes to play malicious pranks and tease evilly. If offended, it breaks the woodcutters' axes in two and lets trees fall in the wrong direction.
In the Swiss valley Muotatal, before 1638 there was an Epiphany procession called Greifflete associated with two female wood sprites, Strudeli and Strätteli, the latter being a derivative of Schrat.
Mining demon
A Schrattel can be a Goldteufel (gold devil) that can be made to serve a human, bringing his master gold or silver found in the Pusterwald region, according to the legend from Styria in Austria; the legend was recorded by in his novel Das Hochgericht vom Birkachwald. Krainz No. 249. "", p. 319
Nightmare demon
The Alp of German folklore, in the strict sense, refers to an Alptraum (nightmare) causing demon, and is associated with pressure like a horse is riding on the sleeper, with stifling against the pillow, and hence respiratory and other sicknesses. This tends to be known by the name Schrat or its variants in Southern Germany and Switzerland, especially in regions with Alemannic dialect. Such a demon is also considered a sickness demon, as explained above.
Forms The Alptraum nightmare was known locally under diminutive names such as : Schrättel in Switzerland; or Schrättlein; , Schrettele in Upper Swabia; around , Bühl, Wurmlingen in Swabia, or in "Munster valley" (, ) in Alsace.
Other forms are: , ; ; (corrupted forms based on German Schreck = fear or fright), (a corrupted form reminiscent of German Scherz = jest), , , and (Käppel = little cap).
In the historic state of Baden (and also particularly in Swabia), the enters by crawling through the keyhole and sits on the sleeper's chest. It can also enter through the window as a black hen. The Swabian is named as the perpetrator of the "Alp-pressure" () bearing down upon the human sleeper's chest or throat.
Livestock dream spirits
In Tirol, it is said the or (Schrattel) to the livestock is similar to what the dream-demon (drude) is to humans. It supposedly pins down livestock with ("Schrattl-pressure"), and the affected cattle, pigs, or hens lie down as if paralyzed or dead. Tirolian farmers try to guard against this sprite by crafting the ("Scrattl-gate") from wooden slats (five pieces of wood interlocked, like a sideways-turned "H" and "X" combined, cf. fig. right), and it is alleged hanging one in the henhouse has saved it.
In Switzerland, the sucks the udders of cows and goats dry and makes horses become schretig, i.e. fall ill. In Swabia, the Schrettele also sucks human breasts and animal udders until they swell, tangles horse manes, and makes Polish plaits. In Austria, The Schrat tangles horse tails and dishevels horse manes.
Witches, possessions, ghosts
Often, the nightmare demon Schrat is in truth a living human. This or (Schrat witch) can easily be identified due to their characteristic eyebrows grown together, the so-called Räzel or Rätzel trait, sometimes applied to the mysterious beings often associated with the Schrat. The appellations Raz, Räzel (Rätzel) was likely an apheresis of Shräzel (Shrätzel), according to Wilhelm Hertz.
In Swabia, the Schratt is a woman suffering from an hereditary ailment known as schrättleweis gehen or Schrattweisgehen (both: going in the manner of a Schrat) which is an affliction usually inherited from one's mother. The afflicted person will have to step out every night at midnight, i.e. the body will lie around as if dead but the soul will have left it in the shape of a white mouse. The Schratt is impelled to "press" (German drücken) something or someone, be it human, cattle, or tree. The nightly Drücken is very exhausting, making the Schratt ill. Only one thing can free the Schratt from her condition. She must be allowed to press the best horse in the stable to death.
According to other Swabian beliefs, the nightmare-bringing Schrat is a child who died unbaptized. In Baden, it is considered a deceased relative of the nightmare victim.
Protective amulets The Schrat is further known to cause illnesses by shooting arrows. Its arrow is the belemnite (called , Schrat stone), but his stone can also be used to ward the spirit off. Beside the Schrattenstein, it also fears the pentagram (called Schrattlesfuß, Schrat foot in Swabia) and stones of the same name with dinosaur footprints. The Schrätteli can be exterminated by burning the bone whose appearance it takes when morning comes. The same is true for burning the straw caught at night, for in the morning it will become a woman covered with burns and never return again. If it is cut with a Schreckselesmesser (Schrat knife), a knife with three crosses on its blade, the Schrettele will also never return again. The Schrat can be kept out of stables by placing the aforementioned wooden Schratlgatter (Schrat fence) above the stable door, or using a convex mirror called Schratspiegel (Schrat mirror) which also works the same way.
Domestic sprite
Middle High German literature In the Middle High German story "Schrätel und Wasserbär" (13th cent.), the kobold haunts a peasant's house, but the Danish king lodges there with the polar bear, and after the encounter with the "giant cat" the spirit is frightened away.
A version of this story set in a miller's house in Berneck (Bad Berneck im Fichtelgebirge), Upper Franconia, Bavaria, where a Holzfräulein replaces the Schrätel, and is killed by a "cat". , Anmerkungen zu S. 397; , , note to 1: 480.
The Schrätel () as a peace-disturber or poltergeist also figures in the Tyrolean poet Hans Vintler's Die Pluemen der Tugent (completed 1411)., vv. 7803–7804. Zingerle, Ignaz Vincenz ed. (1874)
Local lore
The term Schrat (or its variants) is thought to have occurred more widely in the sense of "house sprite" in the past. According to belief from the 15th century, every house has a schreczlein which, if honored by the inhabitants of the house, gives its human owners property and honor.
But the sense of Schrat as a Hausgeist or kobold only survived in Southeastern Germany, and West Slavic Regions. More specifically, Schrat as domestic sprite is particularly known in Bavaria (the Upper Palatinate, the Fichtel Mountains extending to Czechia; also Vogtland which spills into Saxony and Thuringia), and the Austrian provinces of Styria and Carinthia. In these parts (Southeastern Germany and Austria), the Schrat remains more akin to a domestic kobold, only occasionally appearing as an incubus. The form Schrezala was current in the Fichtelgebirge and Vogtland.