The devil. Russia

Recently we had a friend from Leningrad, a certain Potapov Nikolai Grigorievich, on a business trip here. He told an interesting story.

In the summer of 1938 (when he was still a boy and lived in a village in the Smolensk region), he and a group of guys walked along a forest road to a neighboring village. Suddenly they saw a huge man not far from the road among the trees.

What he, Potapov, remembered about him was a green beard, a wide polo on which hung an object like a saber, and high boots like jackboots. His clothes were dark in color. With one hand he held on to the "saber" and then raised it, then lowered it.

He (Potapov) and all the guys rushed to run. We went back another way. And suddenly they saw this "man" again and started running again.

His mother then told him that this was a "forester", and that she, and not only she, had already met him in the forest when they were picking berries.

If you are interested in all this, then I can tell you the address of Potapov and the names of the villages. I wish you all the best.