Soetarno

Soetarno is a character in the folklore of the Lanzerwald. He is portrayed as a skinny man who wears rags, is covered in soot and carries a pickax. Soetarno is said to have been a digger in the coal mines of Grenstad until one day he dug too deep and entered into the Underworld. In Hell he encountered Joost, the ruler of the Underworld in ancient Lanzerwaldian mythology, who sent him away because he was not dead yet. However, the exact wording Joost used, ("Let me never see you here again") made it impossible for Soetarno to enter into the Underworld after he died through asphyxiation following the collapse of a mineshaft, as such he was forced to remain with the living for all of eternity. Soetarno is said to remain in the coal mines for most of the years, and diggers have reported sightings of him very frequently, but is said to haunt the living on the darkest day of the year, the winter solstice. Soetarno plays a role in the story of Saint Anna, who visits the children of the Lanzerwald and gives them toys if they have been behaving in the past year. The children who do not behave, are warned that if they do not behave the coming year, Soetarno may drag them down into the coal mines with him.