Žaltvykslės (bog-lights, treasure-flames)¶

Folk source [Historical record]¶

Lights over bogs and meadows at night, believed to be souls that lead travellers astray (klystžvakės, „straying candles“); in Lithuanian tradition some are the souls of dishonest land-surveyors condemned to measure fields at night. Separately, hidden treasure was said to show itself as a flame (pinigai dega, „the money is burning“) on certain nights; a brave finder might claim it by throwing clothing onto the flame, though the devil or the dead guard it and demand a price.

Žaltvykslės (bog-lights, treasure-flames)


Tipas	būtybė
Status	Sagos išmonė
Pastaba	Bestiary §9. Danger I → II.

In the saga (where the folk are half-wrong)¶

Both are true and belong to Velnias’s ledger. Bog-lights are the dead who cheated on boundaries and debts and walk the lines they falsified; following one means joining its measuring. Treasure-flames are wealth buried with a curse or bargain, still owed to the roots; taking one means taking on its debt.

Signs & habitat¶

Lights that move against the wind; a flame in a field on Rasos or Vėlinės night that throws no heat.

Before / after the Unbinding¶

Before: rare and largely harmless if ignored. After the Order and the new lords measure land by the furlong (the Gold-Glutton’s appetite) the bog-lights multiply; over Samogitia after 1398 they walk in rows, like surveyors.

Banes, wards, bargains, and their cost¶

Do not follow; turn your coat inside out to break the pull (cost nothing, if you remember in time). To claim a treasure, throw a shirt on the flame and do not look back, and in the saga a death in the finder’s family follows within the year; the money is warm.

Danger level¶

I nuisance → II hazard.

Story hooks¶

Book II: Henė’s minor devils seeding treasure-flames to buy Vytautas’s boyars. Book IV: the Melno border (1422) lit at night by ten thousand bog-lights.

Ryšiai

Servant of: Velnias — Velnias’s ledger of cheated boundaries and debts.

Žaltvykslės (bog-lights, treasure-flames)

Bog-lights and treasure-flames · Baltic folk belief, saga-true

Origin [Historical record] straying lights as souls (some of dishonest surveyors); treasure that shows itself as a flame · [The saga's invention] both belong to Velnias's ledger

Tier Dvasia · Velnias's ledger of cheated boundaries and debts

Danger I nuisance → II hazard

Habitat Bogs and meadows at night; a field flame on Rasos or Vėlinės

Wants Followers to join their measuring; buried debts paid

Takes Travellers who follow. A treasure's claimant: a death in the finder's family within the year

Signs Lights that move against the wind; a flame in a field that throws no heat

Banes Do not follow. Turn your coat inside out to break the pull

Traits

Half-wrong truth. Both folk stories are true. Bog-lights are the dead who cheated on boundaries and debts, walking the lines they falsified. Treasure-flames are wealth buried with a curse or bargain, still owed to the roots.

Multiplying. Once the Order and the new lords measure land by the furlong (the Gold-Glutton's appetite) the lights multiply. Over Samogitia after 1398 they walk in rows, like surveyors.

Actions

Leading astray. Following a light means joining its measuring.

Treasure-flame. Taking a treasure means taking on its debt.

Costs

Claiming treasure. Throw a shirt on the flame and do not look back. A death follows in the family within the year, and the money is warm.

Turning the coat. Costs nothing, if you remember in time.

Source: Bestiary §9 · Cosmology §3.3

Sąsajos¶

graph LR
  velnias["Velnias"]
  zaltvyksles["Žaltvykslės (bog-lights, treasure-flames)"]
  zaltvyksles -->|Servant of| velnias
  style zaltvyksles stroke-width:3px