Hobgoblins (planetnicy) in beliefs of the Orawa and Podhale regions

In the regions of Orawa and Podhale, among the local elders, beliefs about hobgoblins, able to bring or mitigate thunderstorm, survived up to this day. The hobgoblins are supposed to travel on clouds, perceived as dragons, and depending upon peasants' fulfillment of request for food, or failure to fulfill one, are able to either destroy or protect the harvest. This work discusses features and properties of the hobgoblins, including their relation to the Lateran ringing tradition. The hobgoblins occur also in fiction literature, which enables a discovery of the topos of naming ordinary people "a hobgoblin".