Likho

Likho, Liho (Russian: Лихо) is an embodiment of evil fate, misfortune in Slavic mythology. A creature with one eye, usually depicted as an old, skinny woman in black (Лихо одноглазое, One-eyed Likho). It is not a member of Slavic pantheon, rather a personage of fairy tales, some of which contain traces of the Odyssey's episode with Polyphemus cyclops.

Likho is not a real proper name, but a noun meaning bad luck in modern Russian (Don't wake likho while it's quiet proverb). In old Russian the root meant "excessive", "too much" with pejorative connotations. Compare to Russian lishniy – one in excess. The word is likely to be related to Indo-European leik^w meaning something to remain, to leave. The derived adjective likhoy can be used to describe someone who is a bit too daring or brave. In Czech, lichý means odd, impair.

There are several basic versions of tales how a person meets with Likho, with different morals of the tale.

• A person eventually cheats Likho in Odyssey's way.
• A person cheats Likho, runs away (with Likho chasing him), sees a useful thing, grabs it, sticks to it and has to cut off his hand.
• Likho cheats a person and rides on his neck. The person wants to drown Likho, jumps into a river, drowns himself, but Likho floats out, to chase other victims.
• Likho is received or passed to another person with a gift.

Within the framework of superstitions, Likho was supposed to come and eat a person. In particular, this say was used to scare small children.

Recently, some Slavic neopagans attempt to "retrofit" Liho into the Slavic Pantheon.