THE LESHY

The Leshy is a being believed to inhabit the forests of eastern Europe.  It is basically a magical creature, though some kind of wildman may lie behind its legend.  It has been called a kind of bigfoot, but there is a rich mythology surrounding it and one cannot be sure it can be explained by just a single creature.  It looks like an old man wearing clothing of natural colors, carrying a stick and basket.  However, it is sometimes said its hair and beard are actually composed of vines and grass.  It rules the forest.  It is friendly with the bears and wolves and is a shapeshifter, able to assume the guise of anything it chooses.  People going into the forest used to leave it an offering of eggs or cheese.  So revered was the leshy that, during the harvest, reapers would leave their children by the edge of the wood so the leshy would protect them.  On the whole, leshies were benevolent.  They were a species rather than an individual.  It seems there was only one leshy per forest, though.  There were female leshies as well.  

There have been a number of reported sightings of leshies in modern times.  From its varied characteristics, the leshy would seem to fall into the category of a paranormal creature.