Muma Pădurii


In Romanian folklore, Muma Pădurii is an ugly and mischievous or mad old woman living in the forest. She is the opposite of fairies such as Zână. She is also the protector of the animals and plants, brewing potions and helping injured animals. She cures the forest if it is dying and she keeps unwanted trespassers away by driving them mad and scaring them.
She can be associated with witches, but she's a neutral "creature", harming only those who harm the forest.

Etymology

Muma Pădurii literally means "mother of the forest", though "mumă" is an archaic version of "mamă", which has a fairy tale overtone for the Romanian reader. A few other such words, typically protagonists of folktales, have this effect.

Characteristics

Muma Pădurii is a spirit of the forest in a very ugly and old woman's body. Sometimes she has the ability to change her shape. She lives in a dark, dreadful, hidden little house.
She is thought to attack children and because of this a large variety of spells are used against her.
This mother of the forest kidnaps little children and enslaves them. In one popular story, at some point, she tries to boil a little girl alive in a soup. However the little girl's brother outsmarts Muma Pădurii and pushes the woman-monster in the oven instead, similar to the story of Hansel and Gretel. The story ends on a happy note when all kids are free to go back to their parents.

In modern culture

Instead of saying "She's ugly", Romanians sometimes say "She looks like Muma Pădurii". Muma Pădurii was adapted into a monster for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition: http://www.lomion.de/cmm/mumapadu.php