Plague Maiden

The Plague Maiden, also known as the Maid of Pestilence, is a figure from a Lithuanian-Polish folktale who appears just before a plague strikes a town. She is often depicted waving a red handkerchief through doorways, either dyed or blood-soaked. In some versions, she wears white with a fiery wreath around her temples; in others, she is a tall, haggard old woman in a tattered white robe. Adam Mickiewicz referenced this legend in his poem Konrad Wallenrod.