Mavka

'Mavka is the spirit of the forest. Not a particularly friendly spirit, because my main goal is to lure men into the woods and tickle them to death. But it's also believed that I protect cattle by scaring off wild animals, so I'm quite a weird character – really polarising!'
         Bogdana Storozuk, playing a mavka forest spirit at Kupala in Brighton (click photo for video).         

Mavkas haunt the forests; in the rivers dwell the rusalkas.