Suffer the Children

   

   

     The creak of the hollow staircase; each step echoing down into the unknown, hated chamber beneath.  In those days when all stairs left the vertical space between each step empty, children, and many honest adults, knew the dread of what might dwell just below the feet, poised to reach out of the void to grip an ankle in an icy grip.  Modern children still know the horror underneath the bed, but that situation at least retains the blessing of magical blankets for protection.  In classic folklore, however, there were many more perils reserved for children.

     Perhaps it was natural that folklore would live among the children, who saw terror in every dark space.  In different regions, the children had name for the creature that would reach out of the darkness such as Rawhead-and-Bloody-Bones, Sackman, or Gurumapa.  Sometimes the folklore was encouraged by parents, who used fear to motivate appropriate behavior in their offspring by relating stories of the Boogie Man, the Bogy or the Bugbear.

     The greatest horror was probably experienced by parents, dreading the lose of an infant at the hands, or talons, of one of the many night creatures that stalked the medieval world, giving an explanation of the high mortality rate of the very young.  In parts of Scotland, there were reports of a wrath-like woman dressed in green that walked the streets at night cradling her withered child.  She would pass through doorways, in spite of locks, and bathe her child by the light of the fireplace, sadly in the blood taken from the resident children.

     In Bulgaria, an ox-headed hag would enter homes at night, creeping up to peek into cradles.  Her vile breath would bring fever and death within days.  In Eastern Europe, the Nocnitsa or Night-Hag tormented sleeping children, whose parents had neglected a nighttime blessing, by prodding them, leaving great red welts that were the first sign of disease.  Yet, in spite of the far superior health care in the world today that prevents many of these deaths, old and even new folklore continues to live among the children.