'Mythical' creatures in book 4

[brooksindy]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C5576
From: brooksindy
Subject: 'Mythical' creatures in book 4
Date: 8/2/00 1:46 am  (ET)

I found Veela in an online mythological beasts dictionary:

http://members.dencity.com/MythicalCreatures/noframes/index.html

which led under alternate spellings to :
http://kosovo.com/history/battle_of_kosovo.html where there was
mentioned:"vila, the often malicious fairy of Balkan folklore,"
and another page of listing of gods/godesses of justice had :
Vila :Slovenian goddesses
but best of all:
http://www.goddessmyths.com/Samovila-Yemaya.html
"Slavic Goddess, a guardian of the forest animals and plants, Vila was a
 shape-shifter and might be a swan, horse, snake, falcon or
 whirlwind. Born
 on a day of misty rain, she was a winged Goddess whose dress shimmered
 in the dappled light of the deep forest where she lived. She had
 a profound
 knowledge of herbal healing and protected the purity of streams. If
 anyone
 brought harm to her creatures, she would cause great harm to them in
 turn; perhaps they would be caught in an avalanche or even danced to
 death."

Another good one:
http://www.okana.net/gods.html

Wila Polish, Vily Slavonic, Vile, Samovile, Samodivi, Vilevrjaci various
Slavonic tongues

 Female spirits that lived in the woods, mountains, and clouds; they
 could shape shift into swans,
 horses, falcons, or wolves. In Slovakia, they are regarded as the souls
 of dead girls that lead
 young men to their deaths; they fire arrows that may disturb one's
 reason. The souls of the dead
 in Lithuania, as in Poland, were believed to visit the homes of their
 families; they could change
 their shape into animals. Peasants would lay flowers at the entrances
 to caves where they
believed that Wila dwelt. In Russia they were seen as beautiful naked
girls who charmed shepherds and young boys. From Leland's Gypsy Sorcery
and
Fortune Telling, we get this accounting:
We can still find the Vila (sic) as set forth in old ballads, the
incarnation of beauty and power, the benevolent friends of sufferers,
the geniuses of heroes,
the dwellers by rock and river and greenwood tree. But they are implacable
in their wrath to all who deceive them or who break a promise; nay,
they inflict
terrible punishment even on those who disturb their rings or the dances
which they make by midsummer moonlight. Hence the proverb applied to
any man
who suddenly fell ill: "Naiso je na vilinsko kolo" (he stepped on
a fairy-ring).

another interesting one:
"The nymphs of Serbian legend (the Vila) could become either swans
or serpents."