Naiads — K. A. K. Lecky Illustration Sorry for the silence last week, folks!  My hands have been busy at work on some new papercuttings that I just can't wait to share with you!

Art credit- K.A.K. Lecky
kakleckyillustration.com/blog/2015/5/...

2 naiads, 1 with long blonde hair & the other with long brown hair, emerge from a spring. Waterlilies float on the water.

The Himerian naiads live in the hot-springs of the town of Himera in Sicily. They are probably daughters of a local river god. Their names are not recorded.

Art credit- Debbie CriswellShe
debbie-criswell.pixels.com/featured/mer...

A white mermaid with long dirty blonde hair, a green tail & pale blue seashell bra, arches her back. A blue dolphin is behind her

Himalia (Abundant) is 1 of the Haliae, nymphs of the sea. She lives near the Aegean island of Rhodes. She was seduced, or more likely assaulted, by Zeus, & had 3 children: Spartaios, Kronios & Kytos.

Art credit- www.redbubble.com/i/art-board-...

A hill with a round green door set in it. A tiny person with a pointy green hat, green cape, red tights & pointy brown shoes stands in front of the door.

In the German folktale, "Adventures of John Dietrich," there's a race of diminutive Hill People. They live underground & are led by the Hill- King. Like many fairies they abduct humans.

Liminal

Werewolf with Human Face Seen in Yorkshire! #mythology #cryptid YouTube video by Fairy Encyclopedia

Werewolf with Human Face Seen in Yorkshire!
youtube.com/shorts/YHHC8...

Art credit- Brian Froud
www.meer.com/en/11413-bri...

A tiny being with pitch black eyes, a big nose & messy brown hair wears a red pointy hat, brown jacket & blue pants

In Switzerland, there is a myth of a dwarven race called Hill- Men or Earth- Men. They are nice & helpful, bringing home stray lambs, keeping cattle & making their own cheese.

Don't let gloomy weather get you down.
Enter a dense fog, lose yourself in mossy corridors and shadowy nooks, radiate your own darkness from within and envelop everything.
You are the gloom.

Source- sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm...

Art credit- warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/High_King

A white bearded dwarf king wearing a golden helmet with a bird on it & purple robes holds an axe in one hand & sits on a throne with a massive open book in his lap. The throne is carried by 2 armored dwarves.

The Hill- King is a character from the German folktale, "Adventures of John Dietrich." He's said to dwell "many thousand miles below in the great deep." He's the king of a race of short underground hill people. In the folktale, John is taken underground by the hill people, where he sees Hill- King

Reimagining D&D's Hill Giants YouTube video by KrazyK

Art credit- @batmiik.bsky.social
m.youtube.com/watch?v=wt3Z...

Source- The Mythology Of All Races Vol Ii- archive.org/details/in.e...

A massive brown skinned hill/ mountain giant covered in green moss

Hill Giants appear in Icelandic & Scandanavian folklore. They live in the hills and/or personify them. They also have associations with sacred shrines & the dead.

Art credit- commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wa...

In the air, among clouds, and upon a white horse, a valkyrie rides with the corpse of a man. Flanked by two ravens, two other valkyries ride behind her, one raising a spear. By Emil Doepler 1905

Hild (warrior) is 1 of the valkyries listed in the Grimnismal. Valkyries are Odin's choosers of the slain, who select dead warriors for Valhalla.

Art credit- www.fairyist.com/fairy-types/...

Drawing of a Hikey Sprite, a skinny black being wearing a witch hat, running Text- Dick knew the Hikey Sprites in Sparham in the 1930s. He made this sketch in June 2008.

Hikey Sprites are shadowy fairies from Norfolk, UK. They have more than 20 other name variations. Hikey Sprites are sometimes mean, sometimes helpful. They are still seen today.

Art credit- www.instagram.com/p/DTKQUcyEkqM/

A tree covered mountain with a gray skinned face with a massive nose & pointed ears

Hiisi are Finnish nature spirits of varying sizes. Natural phenomena in Finland are often named for the Hiisi. Hiisi may also be a forest god. In 1551 bishop Mikael Agricola identified Hiisi as a forest god who helped hunters. The name is similar to the Estonian hiid & hiieneitsid & might be related

Art credit- keziarooke.artstation.com/projects/xJK...

A white woman with long wavy green hair & green eyes wearing a gray headscarf & a black dress with a green mossy skirt stands on moss covered rocks in a forest

Hiieneitsid are maidens of sacred groves in Estonian mythology. They may also be associated with the land of the dead.

The forest has antlers & thorns, so you should too.
The forest finds beauty in slow decay, so you should too.
The forest hides mysteries in gloom, so you should too.
The forest lets its wildness grow unchecked, so you should too

Magical

Art credit- fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiiden_...

The Hiiden Elk Skiing (1894)- Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Gallen-Kallela has depicted the Hiiden Elk as a deer .

Hiiden hirvi is a magical hard to catch elk in the Kalevala. The myth of hunting Hiiden hirvi explains the origin of skis & moose. The name might mean hidden moose.