Hödekin

Hödekin (variously spelled Hödeken, Hütgin, Hüdekin, and Hütchen, etc.) is a kobold (house spirit) of German folklore. The name is a diminutive meaning "Little Hat", and refers to the pileus hat he wears, a common hat in Ancient Greece, and later various parts of Europe.

Hödekin is famously known for haunting the castle of Bishop Bernard (Bernhardus), Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim, located in Lower Saxony. In some versions of the legend, the spirit is also said to have inhabited Winzenburg, a county the spirit reportedly helped the bishopric obtain.

Though Hödekin did not initiate harm, he was murderously vindictive. He dismembered a kitchen boy after the boy habitually insulted him and poured kitchen filth upon him. When the cook (who hadn't controlled the misbehaving boy) griped, the sprite tainted the meat for the bishop with toad blood and venom. Because the cook remained unfazed, Hödekin ultimately pushed the cook from a heights into a ditch, where he died.

Hödekin's actions weren't always malicious- he once helped a man by fiercely protecting his wife. When the man jokingly entrusted his wife to Hödekin during his absence, the sprite took it seriously and chased off every man who called on the adulterous wife. He also helped an idiot clerk appointed to the synod by giving him a ring made of laurel leaves that granted him knowledge and intelligence. Ultimately, the spirit's time in Hildesheim ended when the bishop exorcised him with ecclesiastical incantations and drove him out of the city.