Abstract
The particular nature of the milling craft, the technical complexity of milling equipment and hydraulic engineering, as well as the location of mills, ideally on the edge of towns and villages, meant that millers became a common subject of folklore and legends in particular. In these, millers took on the role of hard-working and honest people, but also as crooks and people engaged in witchcraft.
In addition to these legends, a whole range of stories were told of hastrman water spirits and devils and demons which in some way belonged to the mills. This study aims to present a number of these stories and use them to reveal the principle for the creation of different legends and their subsequent delivery and propagation.