Devil Boruta (pl|Diabeł Boruta) is a fictional character from Polish mythology, folklore and literature, associated with the Polish town of Łęczyca.[1]
The character is the transformation of the pagan Slavic leshy in post-Christianization times. Boruta is also referred to as błotnik,[2] [3] a swamp spirit.
He was usually considered to be a nobleman, and accordingly, he was usually busy with corrupting nobles, leaving other social classes to other devils - like Rokita the devil from the same region, who more often tempted peasants. Zygmunt Gloger and some other ethnologists believed that dressing Boruta as a nobleman is fakelore produced in the 19th century and reintroduced into folklore.
Zygmunt Gloger's Encyklopedia staropolska (1900–1903) Boruta is described as follows:[4]