The Wily

It is becoming almost impossible to trace (the) true origin of spirits now regarded as merely diabolical or otherwise put into new roles; but among the South Slavonians... we can still find them in very nearly their old form...

We can still find the Vila as set forth in old ballads, the incarnation of beauty and power, the benevolent friends of sufferers, the geniuses of heroes, the dwellers by rock and river and greenwood tree. But they are implacable in their wrath to all who deceive them, or break a promise; nay, they inflict terrible punishment even on those who disturb their rings or the dances which they make by midsummer moonlight. Hence the proverb applied to any man who suddenly fell ill: "Naiso je na vilinsko kolo" ("He stepped on a fairy ring")

- Charles Godfrey Leland in "Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling" p.68

Stanko and the Wila

Stanko was a shepherd boy who was well loved by the villagers for his beautiful playing of the flute. One evening, so absorbed was he in his own flute playing, when the Ave Maria was rung from the church, he played along with it instead of repeating the prayer. When he lowered his flute he saw a Wila staring at him from atop a rock. From that moment on, Stanko was never alone. From field to cottage to village to bed, wherever he turned his eyes met with the unearthly gaze and pale form of the Wila.

All the Wizards and Witches from his village and beyond were called upon. None of their magic would help, however, and only angered the Wila so that she began to hit him and torment him. When asked why she had become so cruel, Stanko replied that it was because he would not leave with her into the otherworld. Mornings would often find the shepherd asleep atop a tree, bound with bast....and so it went on for many years until the villagers found his dead body, drowned in a ditch.

Illustration by Brian Froud.

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