The lutin is a hobgoblin of French folklore, a household spirit much like the English brownie or the German kobold: more mischievous than evil. In Normandy it could take the form of a saddled horse, Le Cheval Bayard, and it was blamed for tangling horses' manes into knots. The name goes back to the 1170s, when it first meant a sea monster, from the Roman sea god Neptune.
French settlers brought the lutin to Quebec, where it was thought to take the shape of a household animal, especially an all-white cat. A good lutin might shave the master of the house before he woke on Sunday; an offended one blunted scythes or filled shoes with pebbles. Spilled salt was said to keep it away.
Detroit's Nain Rouge, the red dwarf said to appear before disasters, is often described as a kind of lutin.
What the stories say
- Horses' manes found tangled into knots in the morning
- Small household mischief: pebbles in shoes, blunted tools
- A pure white cat that seems to know too much
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