Kobold

Brownies and spirits-guardians of underground wealth in mythology Northern Europe.

They are good-natured, but they could cause chaos and disorder in the house in response to neglect. In Germanic mythology, it is a special kind of elves or alves, akin to dwarves (dwarves). Those are called mainly the spirits of the hearth, approximately corresponding to brownies, but sometimes the same name is applied to mountain spirits.

Although the kobold is usually invisible, it can materialize in the form of an animal, a light, or a short, child-like person. Kobolds living in human houses wear peasant clothes; those living in mines are hunched and ugly; kobolds living on ships smoke pipes and wear sailor clothes. Underground kobolds are credited with the desire to prevent people from accessing underground wealth — they could arrange blockages or rockfalls.

Kobolds are credited with making fun of people, they are constantly messing around and making noise. They are described as dwarfs, usually ugly with a gray elongated face and sometimes hooves and legs similar to goat's, but without wool. The ancient Norwegians attributed the poisoning of smelters during the melting of silver to the tricks of this evil spirit.

Probably, the name of the evil spirit goes back to the Greek "kobalos" — smoke.