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ZODAWASCHERL, HONAWASCHERL: The name of the thirteenth child in Percht’s night host. He is a small child that died unbaptized and who drags along behind the procession holding a pitcher filled with his tears. When the peasants set a table on Three Kings’ Night for Percht and her troop there are only twelve settings, so when Zodawascherl arrives there is nothing left for him.

The name is coined from words in regional dialect meaning “rags” and to “lag behind”; it can therefore be translated as “the raggedy straggler.”

Fig. 104. Zodawascherl

ZUNDEL (“Firestarter,” “Kindling”): Elemental spirit of fire according to Paracelsus. His appearance is the prelude to catastrophes like the end of a lineage or country.

ZUSERBEUTLEIN: Name of the child that lags behind at the end of Percht’s host because he is constantly tripping over his shirttails. Legend says that a female pilgrim saw him and exclaimed, “Hold on my Zuserbeutlein! I will fix your shirt,” and the child answered, “God be praised! I now have a name.” He had died unbaptized and could therefore find no rest. The name is coined from Zuser, a dialectal word designating the waxwing (a bird of the Passerine family), and a diminutive form of Beutel, “sack” or “purse.”

Lecouteux, Phantom Armies of the Night, 150–52.

ZWIESAUGER, DOPPELSAUGER (“One Who Twice Nurses”): This name designates children who, twenty-four hours after being weaned, go back on the breast one more time. They can be recognized by their red lips. After their death their bodies do not decompose in the grave. It is said that these folk eat their own flesh and suck the blood of their fellow family members, which makes them akin to vampires.

NACHZEHRER