Hills of Lucca, the refuge of the Linchetto

He moves out in particular at night, passing from house to house in order to take away the blankets to the one who sleeps or to sit on his chest so that he can’t breathe. It makes long plaits with the tails and the manes of the horses, he steals the fodder to the cows in the stables in order to give it to another cow that he likes more.

He adores children and he dislikes old women. But in particular he likes to make jokes to young brides. If a Linchetto picks on you, you can just hope that he has a liking for you otherwise he won’t leave you alone so easily and he will make jokes to you until you won’t manage to make him go away.

Old people teach us that you can keep away a Linchetto hanging a juniper branch to the front door of the house or of the stable: for some mysterious reason the Linchetto feels obliged to count the numberless berries of the juniper before entering, but he soon gets bored with counting and he renounces his spiteful designs running away.