The Penensy Smij [Polish folklore; World mythology post 696]

(Image source: ‘Dragon of Coin’ by Louxie)

The Penezny Smij (ignore the typo in the title), or ‘penny dragon’, is a tiny dragon creature from Polish-German folklore that would bring wealth to its owner. Belief in these beings hailed from Lusatia (Lausitz).

To acquire one, you need to find a small coin somewhere and pick it up. The next day, there might be a coin of a slightly higher value in the same location. If you take this one too, and keep visiting the same place, you’d supposedly keep finding more change until the full value of a single coin is achieved (note: I believe this originally referred to a thaler, but belief in this or similar folktales was found among several European countries, with different currency. A modern German equivalent would be to keep finding eurocents until you get a €1 coin). If abandoned or given away, this coin will always magically find its way back to you.

At this point, a Penezny Smij will appear in your home. It will bring you wealth, but it always demands good fare and respect. It is similar to traditional house spirits in this regard. But beware: if the dragon deems its owner not respectful enough, it will start a fire and burn the house down.

To get rid of this creature, you have to sell the original coin which brought the dragon into your house, but in a specific and peculiar way. The person who buys it from you must give you more money than the coin is worth, and they have to be aware of this (tricking or scamming them will not make the creature disappear).

Similar, related creatures from Lausitz are the Zitny Smij and the Mlokowy Smij, tiny dragons who bring their owner corn and milk, respectively.

(Image: ‘Tiny Golden Dragon’ by Vicki Pangestu)

This is actually related to several similar legends of self-replicating coins! According to an old German superstition, if one walks onto a crossroad on Christmas eve, lays out 30 coins of equal value in a circle, and then proceeds to count them all twice (once, and then again backwards) while the church bells are announcing mass, then the devil will throw a 31st coin into the circle. This coin will always be the same type and value as the other ones, but it is a ‘Brutfpenning’, which will magically duplicate itself every night. The coins that it produces are regular, non-magical money and do not duplicate themselves.

The devil will attempt to prevent you from counting correctly (presumably, by trying to distract or confuse you) and if you make a mistake while counting, he will physically appear to strangle you.

The concept of this returning coin is more widespread than just this region of Germany. In the Netherlands, for example, there are a handful of folktales about a ‘Wisseldaalder’, which is a coin (a daalder, specifically) that always magically returns to its owner after being used to pay for something. To acquire one, you have to find a crossroad at night with a cat in a bag. If you step on the crossroad for the third time that night, the devil will appear before you. If you can sell the cat to him without mentioning the word ‘cat’ he will pay for his purchase with a Wisseldaalder. I don’t know if this works with other currency (a daalder is no longer legal currency, but I suppose you could sell it to a collector or museum). This transaction signifies the corruption of the soul by the devil.

Sources:
Niermeyer, A., 1840, Verhandeling over het Booze Wezen in het Bijgeloof Onzer Natie, Eene Bijdrage tot de Kennis onzer Voorvaderlijke Mythologie, Vol. I, Wijnands, p. 78-79, 115 pp.
Grimm, J., 1883, Teutonic Mythology, Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Steven Stallybrass, Vol. III, George Bell and Sons, p. 1019-1020, 1276 pp.