Baldanders

Baldanders or The Soon-Another is a creature of Germanic literary myth that features protean properties.

Origin

Baldanders was first conceived by shoemaker and writer Hans Sachs after reading the description of Proteus in The Odyssey. According to Sachs’ and collected descriptions, the Baldanders is a creature that is symbolic for the continual change in nature and society as well as the importance of familiarizing oneself with the common from another perspective. Its name is derived from the combination of German words for Soon (Bald) and Another (Anders).

Baldanders was later featured in a novel by Grimmelshausen, Simplicius Simplicissimus to which the creature was further elaborated on by the alternate author and even illustrated on the cover page. In it, the hero of the story stumbles upon a stone statue of an ancient Germanic god. Once touched by the protagonist, the statue explains that it is the Soon-Another or Baldanders to which the statue demonstrates its powers and transforms into a variety of objects.