Kratt
Tonight, we’re headed to Estonia to learn about a helpful household spirit. Although I guess it isn’t technically a household spirit since its main purpose is to search for treasures and riches to bring back to its creator. And, all you need are three drops of blood to offer the devil.
A Kratt is not dissimilar to a golem in that it is created by someone and then made to do their bidding. However, the way a Kratt is created and its main purpose do differ. To create a Kratt, you need basic farm accompaniment: hay, mud, etc shaped into a humanoid figure. Once that is complete, you give the Devil three drops of blood to buy a soul to animate the Kratt. Then the Kratt has one mission: to steal gold, jewels, and whatever riches it can get its hands on to bring back to its creator.
However, the Kratt once created requires a lot of oversight. You must always give it a consistent and never-ending list of tasks to accomplish: houses to rob, churches to inspect, graves to dig up, etc. If the Kratt doesn't have something to do, it won't become listless: it will become murderous. If you fail to assign it tasks, there is a strong chance it will kill you, the creator, and others.
However, the Kratt once created requires a lot of oversight. You must always give it a consistent and never-ending list of tasks to accomplish: houses to rob, churches to inspect, graves to dig up, etc. If the Kratt doesn't have something to do, it won't become listless: it will become murderous. If you fail to assign it tasks, there is a strong chance it will kill you, the creator, and others. Some also say it will leave a burned or burning trail in its wake after it robs you.
If you want the upsides of a Kratt (free treasure), there are ways to keep it perpetually busy once you run out of ideas to loot. For example, counting every piece of grain in a field or carry a full bucket of water if the bucket has a hole.
In my searches, I haven’t yet come across a way to destroy Kratt, although some suggest paying it three gold coins with crosse (mimicking the blood gift it received) will pay it off and it will leave its master and the land. But to do what…who knows.
Interestingly enough, the new national AI program of Estonia is now named kratt after the creature. It fits, doesn't it? A thing with vaguely humanoid intelligence set to do humans bidding, no matter the cost and infinitely dangerous the moment it was mishandled or left alone.
Thank you to Randall for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The blog header image depicts a painting: “Title: Kratt-Viija | Nature: Drawing | Date: 1927 | Original: Original | Additional names (former title): Based on an Estonian folk legend.” The author died in 1943, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or fewer.