#laitorei

They certainly do! Or at least they have folkloric origins.

Garden gnomes in the literal sense come from Germany, where the more widespread fancy of keeping little decorative statues in your garden muddled nicely together with the Northwest European notion of having gnomes (or tomte or kabouters) as helpful little creatures around the house and garden.

These creatures were usually male (or genderless but presumed male) and were loyal to a household, provided they were treated with respect. Usually this meant not spying on them and leaving some food out for them.

I’m Dutch and over here when we say tuinkabouter (garden-gnome) we mean a statue in the garden, but huiskabouter (house-gnome) refers to the old belief of having a kind little human-like figure living in your house. They are usually about the size of your hand, dressed neatly, with pointy red caps and a white beard. The German variety is much the same and while the Scandinavian types can differ a bit, they are clearly friendly cousins. Most of them are reported to be unusually strong for their size and capable of turning invisible.

There definitely are! I will find some cool ones for you and put them in a separate post!

The W*ndigo will not be on that list, though. The line between foklore and spirituality is often thin and it is particularly so with First Nation and Native American traditions. As far as I know, these are Algonquin and Anishinaabe spirits, not creatures, and I believe many people from those cultures prefer it if they are not spoken of. Especially not as a source of amusement.

Thank you friend! We’re glad that you enjoy our blog :)

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We don’t usually take requests to draw or write anything for kidlaw but you can find posts with kid and law as children under the tags ‘child kid’ and 'child law’ I hope that helps!