The goblin with seven caps and the golden pot

Once upon a time made of magical creatures leaping among leafy woods in the neverland world, a mischievous elf troubled Sardinian nights from the dawn of life. It is said to be partially a demon, the disturber of the unfortunates sleepers, who, eager to doze off in total peace and serenity of mind, were awakened by a small but sturdy creature.
Myth of a thousand names, we will know it as the goblin with seven caps because of the traditional headgear he worns lightly; albeit defined Pundacciu di li sette barritti (Pundacciu of the seven Phrygian caps) in Gallura dialect, Ammuntadore, sa Surtora and Matzamurreddu are respectively the vernacular names in the region of Logudoro, Ghilarza and Campidano.

The names of the sprite are many, but the story is univocal and it concerns to consider him a small and fast sylph, like the dwarves, who sneaks into humans homes in the middle of the night to interrupt their sweet sleep. He is agile, although clumsy, burly, runs fast and its jumps are almost ungraspable, then he sits on the chest of the chosen victims making, meanwhile, mischievous pranks to those who in reality were the recipients of those precious treasures, cleverly hidden in the underground , in which were placed in the past by those who wanted have been received by the unfortunates that he mocks.


During the day he finds its shelter in the underground when he crouches between his precious goods stored carefully, maliciously stolen and, as well as the Janas (the Sardinian pixies), he lives in the caves, where the darkness reigns during the day, after which the mischievous elf goes, hopping, to the house of his next persecuted.


Most of the time he mocks his interlocutor with fake clues and sarcastic games, such as to mislead him and bring him to lose the coveted treasure. The only possibility that exists to calm the sickly and childish spirit is depriving him of his wealth, taking away from his head, in a stealthy way, a cap, some say, while, others, just the seventh, at the top than the other six, because it aroses his magical powers.


When this occurred, the genial goblin, now of the six caps, prayed the winner with weeping, wailing and fake oaths, to receive back the beret in exchange of a treasure, whose hiding place would have revealed only after the delivery of the prodigious headgear.

Most of the time the nagging elf did not keep his promise and, once got his cap back, he volatilizes himself into thin air, making to disappear forever to the deceived man, the chance to get rich with a treasure.


It is said that this was not the fate of a child of Tempio, Antoneddu, who, conscious of the presence of diabolic goblin, makes a sudden twist in his bed and pulls from the stalker head a cap, denying the same opportunity to exercise his fateful, but insolent, magic.
The litany began: tears and cries invoked the restitution of the cap by the youth who, clever, refused to give it back, threatening to throw it in the ashes and hiding it among the sooty remains of burnt wood in the fireplace, to take it off by the nimble hands of the angry little creature.


This, evidently reluctant to dirty his white skin hands, shrinks and submits himself to the will of the one that wanted to subjugate, giving him a pot full of gold or, better, of food and beverages, in order to permanently get rid of the power of the child.
He, however, refused to give back to the chubby undesired guest the seventh cap, leaving him to wait for his return in that abandoned house in the hills beyond the valley, where he found rest on the night he went to the woods to look for food to feed himself and his family. In the fairy-tale story of Sardinia, the nocturnal meetings with the goblin of sleep, however, are numerous and spread throughout the whole island territory.


The shepherd of Gallura well knows this and, from the encounter with the goblin, in this case the servant of San Martino, who revealed his secrets to the devil to obtain seven magical caps. It was so obsessed that one night, succeeded in snatch the last, exhorted him to reveal, under threat, where his rich treasure was hidden. Once obtained the attractive information, he threw it in the ashes along with the caps.


Or, again, the child of Isili that with a rosary wrapped around his neck, forced the goblin to give him his huge fortune.
The sleepless night leaves awake to discover the little scary creatures that torment children and more suggestible adults, but, actually, it is always better to leave, in a fabulous way, the world of fantasy.