Month: May 2015

Guariba-boia

Variations: Howler monkey snake

Guariba boia

Guariba-boia, the “howler monkey snake”, can be found in a wide stretch of the Amazon river, from Fonte Boa in the west to Urucurituba in the east, and in the lakes of the Rio Negro. It excavates tunnels in murky river bottoms, and hides in mud or thickets of water-plants. Usually its voice is the only sign of its existence.

As the name implies, a guariba-boia typically has the head of a howler monkey (guariba) on the body of a snake (boia). Sometimes it has the body of a howler monkey and the paws of an otter, and rarely it has the head of a sloth (although such a feature would seem hardly intimidating). Guariba-boias grow to about six meters long.

Guariba-boias announce their presence with loud, resonant howls that sound like an entire troop of howler monkeys. They roar from below water, and their calls are particularly loud on rainy nights.

While not as big as boiunas, guariba-boias are armed with needle-sharp fangs and lethal venom. Death by guariba-boia bite is swift and painful, after which the creature swallows its victim whole. A guariba-boia does not regularly seek out human prey, but will overturn canoes and kill the occupants if hungry enough.

References

Smith, N. J. H. (1996) The Enchanted Amazon Rain Forest. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Duphon

Duphon

Eagle-owls are impressive animals. As the largest owls, they are top predators in their environments, even feeding on other birds of prey. Their size and eerie calls have ensured them a place in the folklore of many cultures.

It should then be unsurprising that the eagle-owl has been reinterpreted as a supernatural creature. The Duphon can be found in the Hautes-Alpes region of France, where it braids horse manes, pinches young women, and causes mischief and mayhem. The town of Serres preserves a duphon lair in the form of a stone door and ruined ramparts, known as the Trou du Duphon (“The Duphon’s Hole”).

References

van Gennep, A. (1948) Le folklore des Hautes-Alpes, Tome II. J. P. Maisonneuve et Cie, Paris.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; & de Juana, E. (eds.) (2013) Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Ladoucette, J. C. F. (1848) Histoire, topographie, antiquités, usages, dialectes des Hautes-Alpes. Gide et Cie, Paris.

Tsuchinoko

Variations: Bachi-hebi, Gigi-hebi, Koro, Koro-hebi, Nozuchi, Tsuchi-korobi

Tsuchinoko final

The Tsuchinoko (“child of the earth” or “mallet child”) is a snake native to Japan. Its primary characteristics are its unusual stocky appearance and its secretiveness. Sightings of tsuchinoko go at least as far back as 1807, in the Edo Period.

A tsuchinoko is easily recognized by its fat, dorsoventrally flattened appearance, reminiscent of a beer bottle, mallet, or pestle (tsuchi). It is this feature that has earned it its name, as well as the alternate name of nozuchi (“field mallet”). It is known as bachi-hebi and gigi-hebi in Akita Prefecture, koro and koro-hebi in Fukui Prefecture, and tsuchi-korobi in Tottori Prefecture.

tsuchinoko bwWhile rare and hard to find, the tsuchinoko is believed to be venomous. It can get around by rolling, as observed by witnesses; when spotted, it laughs and vanishes in a flash of light, causing the onlookers to fall ill. When angered, a tsuchinoko will hiss, spit, and even jump at its pursuer before biting with its fangs.

Recent years have greatly added to the tsuchinoko’s reputation, as reports of sightings have led to its promotion into a full-blown cryptid. The 2000 discovery of an alleged tsuchinoko skeleton in Yoshii, Okayama Prefecture, firmly cemented the snake’s existence in popular culture.

The true identity of tsuchinoko sightings are possibly the venomous yamakagashi (Rhabdophis tigrinus) or the dangerously venomous mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffi). The latter has caused human fatalities, and therefore any potential tsuchinokos should be treated with respect and given a wide berth.

References

Foster, M. D. (2009) Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Foster, M. D. (2015) The Book of Yokai. University of California Press, Berkeley.

O’Shea, M. (2005) Venomous Snakes of the World. New Holland Publishers, London.

Chimera

Variations: Chimaera, Chimaira

Chimera

The Chimera or Chimaera (“goat”) was the daughter of Typhon and Echidna. She was the terror of Lycia in southern Turkey, killing people and livestock and torching crops.

Homer describes her as being a lion in front, a serpent behind, and a goat in the middle, with the power of breathing fire. Hesiod specifies that she had three heads. The lion’s head was in its customary place, the snake’s head was on the end of the tail, and the goat’s head emerged tumorously from the middle. Hyginus gives all three heads the ability to breathe fire, while Apollodorus states that only the goat head could do so, functioning as some kind of shoulder-mounted flamethrower.

While Homer’s description might suggest a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a snake’s tail, the Chimera has been consistently represented in Greek art with multiple heads. Usually she is mostly lion with a snake tail; the goat has proven tricky to depict convincingly, ranging from a head to the entire front half of a goat. Some Etruscan renditions add wings. The iconography behind the Chimera may go back farther, and may be of Asian origin. The term has also been used to describe various unrelated hybrid animals, with or without multiple heads.

She was finally slain by Bellerophon, who had been sent to Lycia to die. The wife of King Proitos had fallen madly in love with him; after he rejected her advances, she told her husband that Bellerophon had tried to seduce her. Enraged, the king dispatched Bellerophon to Iobates of Lycia, bearing a message requesting him to kill the messenger. Iobates sent him to battle the Chimera – surely an impossible task.

But Bellerophon had the favor of the gods, and the aid of the winged horse Pegasus. Mounted on Pegasus’ back, he easily flew out of range of the Chimera’s fiery breath, and shot her to death with arrows. Some accounts add that he rammed a lump of lead into her throat, where it melted and suffocated her.

Chimera bwChimera was a study in contradictions. Her three components did not make any sense together. Her name meant “goat”, but the goat was the least coherent part of her, reduced to a mere head in an anatomically dubious position. Evidently something so contradictory as the Chimera needed a rational explanation, even to the ancient Greeks. Plutarch believed she was inspired by a pirate captain, whose ship was decorated with the three component animals. Servius Honoratus said she was a loose interpretation of the Lycian landscape. Mount Chimera was a volcano, with snakes at its base, goats wandering around its heights, and a pride of lions at the top. Bellerophon, arriving on his ship Pegasus, set fire to the mountain and eradicated the dangerous animals.

The Etruscans dedicated the Chimera to the supreme god Tinia. The Etruscan Arezzo bronze of the Chimera remains the most enduring image produced of her. As a hybrid she was both celestial and chthonic, representing the year and the seasons. The lion, hot and strong, was summer; the snake, cold and ground-dwelling, was winter; and the transitory goat was spring and summer.

In The Temptation of Saint Anthony, the Chimera is a great, green-eyed, dragon-winged creature with a luxuriant mane; she is as capricious as desire and imagination. She reveals breathtaking new perspectives to humans, pours insanity, ambitions, hopes, and dreams into their minds, drives people to dangerous quests, and kills anyone content in wisdom. She is woefully incompatible with the rational, stoic Sphinx, and their attempts at copulation fail.

“Chimera” has entered our vocabulary in a number of ways, always in reference to incongruity. A chimera or something chimeric is fanciful, improbable, and imaginary. A chimera can also mean an organism with distinct cells from different zygotes. Finally, Chimaera is a genus of deep-sea fish, named after its bizarre appearance.

References

Bazopoulou-Kyrkanidou, E. (2001) Chimeric Creatures in Greek Mythology and Reflections in Science. American Journal of Medical Genetics 100:66-80.

Borges, J. L.; trans. Hurley, A. (2005) The Book of Imaginary Beings. Viking.

Flaubert, G. (1885) La Tentation de Saint Antoine. Quantin, Paris.

Hesiod; trans. Elton, C. A. (1832) The Theogony. In Hesiod. A. J. Valpy, London.

Homer, trans. Buckley, T. A. (1851) The Iliad of Homer. Henry G. Bohn, London.

Locatelli, D. and Rossi, F. (2010) Les Étrusques: Pouvoir – religion – vie quotidienne. Série Civilisations, Hazan.

Roes, A. (1934) The Representation of the Chimaera. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 54, Part 1, pp. 21-25.

Schmitt, M. L. (1966) Bellerophon and the Chimaera in Archaic Greek Art. American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 70, No. 4, pp. 341-347.

Smith, R. S. and Trzaskoma, S. M. (2007) Apollodorus’ Library and Hyginus’ Fabulae. Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis.

Till, B. (1980) Some Observations on Stone Winged Chimeras at Ancient Chinese Tomb Sites. Artibus Asiae, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 261-281.

Bingfeng

Variations: Ping-feng, Pingpeng, Chuti/Ch’ou-t’i

Bingfeng final

The Bingfeng is an odd creature from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. It looks like a black pig with an elongate, tubular body, and it has two heads, one at each end. It may be found in the land of Shaman Xian. Borges, who referred to it as the Ping-feng and sourced it from the T’ai Kuang Chi, located it in the land of Magical Water.

Guo Pu speculated that the presence of two heads would have made the bingfeng extremely stubborn. Wen Yiduo, on the other hand, believed the heads were symbolic of hermaphroditism, representing the separate sexes.

A number of other two-headed Chinese animals have been recorded, but they have not been described in much detail. Their symbolism is assumed to be the same.

The Pingpeng, found on the mountain of Aoaoju in the Great Wilds to the West, is very similar but has two heads left and right, instead of front and back. It is probably the same animal as the Bingfeng.

The Chuti, or Ch’ou-t’i according to Borges, is found in the Great Wilds to the South between the Red River and the Desert of Shifting Sands. It also has two heads left and right, and is depicted with doglike features.

References

Borges, J. L.; trans. Hurley, A. (2005) The Book of Imaginary Beings. Viking.

Strassberg, R. E. (2002) A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. University of California Press.

Pilou

Variations: Er-pilour-lann

Pilou

Pilous are always heard and never seen. While their name suggests soft fur – pilou in its modern expression refers to a type of cotton – it actually refers to the men who pound apples into cider, using wooden pilons. Pilous walk with a regular, stomping tread, making a rhythmic sound like that of apples being mashed, and that is all anyone knows of them. Nevertheless, Dubois fancifully describes these lutins as resembling large garden dormice, and that is as good a description as any.

Pilous are native to the northwestern tip of France, specifically Brittany and Ile-et-Vilaine. They come out at night in the attic, in the rafters, in the walls, and start marching. They are not evil but mischievous, and delight in the noise they make. In Brittany, where they become Er-pilour-lann, they wield mallets with which they pound the walls of old houses.

Most encounters with them are about their disregard for human comfort. A farmhand once went into the barn to fetch some hay when the thumping begin, the din seemingly coming from everywhere. He called his uncle, who implored the pilous “Would you, please, stop your noise so I could get some hay for my mare?” They stopped, but the moment the uncle stepped into the barn they started up again, louder than ever.

Another time a group of men were in a barn when a pair of pilous started: one, two, one, two. “I’d like it better if there were three of you!” yelled one of the men, and sure enough a third pilou joined in. Other men started requesting more and more, and the number of pilous increased accordingly. The same stunt was later attempted by three bored young girls, but they requested too many, and soon the pilous were rattling their bed and knocking at their walls. The girls wisely went quiet, and the creatures eventually left.

Attempts to put pilous to use have failed. One miser left oakum fibers behind in the attic in hopes that the pilous would stomp them flat, but he returned in the morning to find the material shredded and scattered all over the attic.

References

d’Amézeuil, C. (1863) Récits Bretons. E. Dentu, Paris.

Dubois, P.; Sabatier, C.; and Sabatier, R. (2005) The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures. Abbeville Press.

Orain, A. (1899) Le Monde des Ténèbres en Ile-et-Vilaine. Revue de Bretagne, de Vendée et d’Anjou, XXI, Paris.

Orain, A. (1901) Contes de L’Ile-et-Vilaine. J. Maisonneuve, Paris.

Le Rouzic, Z. (1924) Carnac: Légendes – Traditions – Coutumes et Contes du Pays. LaFolye Frères et Cie, Vannes.

Pyrallis

Variations: Pyrausta, Piralis

Pyrallis

The Pyrallis or Pyrausta is an insect native to the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus. It resembles a large fly with four legs.

A pyrallis can only be seen within a fire, flitting and flying through the flames. It cannot survive outside fire, and dies instantly if it flies out of it. In fact, Pliny believed the pyrallis was born from the fire itself.

There is a persistent rumor that the pyrallis has dragon features or something to do with dragons, but this is inaccurate. This misconception likely stems from the whimsical book Inventorum Natura, which presents an entirely fictitious “lost” Plinian manuscript.

References

Pliny; Bostock, J. and Riley, H. T. trans. (1857) The Natural History of Pliny, v. III. Henry G. Bohn, London.

Unknown. (1538) Ortus Sanitatis. Joannes de Cereto de Tridino.

Woodruff, U. (1979) Inventorum Natura. Paper Tiger, England.

Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu

Mbielu3

The Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu, or “animal with planks growing out of its back”, is a little-known creature restricted to the Likouala-aux-Herbes in the Congo.

It has only ever been seen in the water with only its back protruding, exposing large “planks” with algal growth between them. What it looks like underwater remains unknown. The mbielu-mbielu-mbielu does not show any aggressive behavior and is presumably herbivorous.

Mbielu3 sketch

The suggestion that it is a late-surviving stegosaur is dubious at best, considering that stegosaurs went extinct long before the end of the Cretaceous (with the possible exception of the disputable Dravidosaurus).

References

Mackal, R. (1987) A living dinosaur? E. J. Brill, New York.

Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; and Osmolska, H. (2004) The Dinosauria, 2nd Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Polevik

Variations: Polevoi, Polievik, Poludnitsa, Poludnica

Polevik

The Polevik or Polevoi (from pole, “field”) is the Russian spirit of fields, plains, and noontime.

His appearance varies considerably. In Belozersk District and the northern forest regions he is a man dressed in white. In Iaroslavl Province he is an ugly little old man. In Orel Province he is black as the earth, his head covered with green grass, and he wears no clothing. In Tula Province he looks like a shaggy-furred Leshy. Sometimes his eyes are different colors. His skin and hair mirror the soil and vegetation of the fields, and his height grows and shrinks with the crops.

Unlike some of the other spirits, the polevik can be benevolent or evil. A polevik is primarily seen at noon. He likes to lead peasants astray, losing them in endless yellow golden stalks of grain. He disapproves of laziness, and will strangle drunkards sleeping in the fields. Poleviks are capable of seeing the future, and in Iaroslavl Province their appearance is an ill omen. Poleviks are also accomplished horsemen and will ride horses across the fields at breakneck speed, running over anyone in their path.

The female equivalent of the polevik, sometimes replacing him entirely, is the Poludnitsa, Poludnica, or Midday Spirit (from poluden or polden, “noon”). She can be a tall, beautiful woman in white; in Siberia she is an old curly-haired crone dressed in rags, while she has horses’ hoofs in Moravia. In summer, during harvest time, she walks through the fields, protecting the grain. If she sees someone working at midday she pulls their hair violently, twists their heads, and breaks their bones. Other times she quizzes people on agriculture, inflicting disease upon them if they fail to answer correctly. She enjoys misleading children in cornfields.

Polevik children run around the fields catching birds for their parents to eat. They will smother anyone sleeping on the edges of the field.

While poleviks can be destructive, a happy polevik will aid with the harvest, and crops will always be successful under a polevik’s patronage. To earn a polevik’s good will one must leave an offering of two eggs and an old rooster who can no longer crow, in a ditch when nobody is around. Traditional observances must also be followed, and nobody should work at noon.

With the advent of Christianity, poleviks and poludnitsas became mere bogeys, monsters used to frighten children out of cornfields.

References

Aldington, R. and Ames, D. trans.; Guirand, F. (1972) New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Paul Hamlyn, London.

Dubois, P.; Sabatier, C.; and Sabatier, R. (1992) La Grande Encyclopédie des Lutins. Hoëbeke, Paris.

Ivanits, L. J. (1989) Russian Folk Belief. M. E. Sharpe, Inc., Armonk, New York.

MacCulloch, J. A. and Machal, J. (1918) The Mythology of All Races v. III: Celtic and Slavic. Marshall Jones Company, Boston.

Teelget

Variations: Teel get, Teelgeth, Delgeth

Teelget

As one of the Anaye, the “Alien Gods” of Navajo folklore, Teelget was born from a human woman who resorted to unnatural and evil practices. In this case, his “father” was an antler. The creature born was round, hairy, and headless, and was cast away in horror; it was this creature that grew into the monster known as Teelget.

The origin of Teelget’s name is not known with certainty, but the “tê” makes reference to his horns. He is like an enormous, headless elk or antelope, rounded in shape, hairy like a gopher, with antlers he uses as deadly weapons. Coyote was his spy, and between him and the other Anaye they laid waste to the land, slaughtering many.

It was Nayenezgani, “Slayer of Alien Gods”, who finally put an end to Teelget’s reign of terror. Armed with his lightning arrows, the hero tracked Teelget down, finding the monster resting in the middle of a wide open plain.

How was Nayenezgani to sneak up on Teelget without being noticed? The grass offered no cover, and Teelget was sure to detect him and retaliate. As he considered his options, he was greeted by Gopher. “Why are you here?” said Gopher. “Nobody comes here, for all are afraid of Teelget”. When Nayenezgani explained that he was here to destroy Teelget, Gopher was more than happy to help. He said that he could provide a way to reach Teelget, and all he asked for as payment was the monster’s hide.

Gopher then excavated a tunnel that led right under the sleeping Teelget’s heart, and dug four tunnels – north, south, east, and west – for Nayenezgani to hide in after Teelget woke up. He even gnawed off the hair near Teelget’s heart, under the pretext that he needed it to line his nest.

That was all Nayenezgani needed. He crawled to the end of the tunnel and fired a chain-lightning arrow into Teelget’s heart, then ducked into the east tunnel. Enraged and in agony, Teelget gouged the east tunnel open with his antlers, only to find that Nayenezgani had moved to the south tunnel. He destroyed that, then the west tunnel, but he only managed to put an antler into the north tunnel before succumbing to his injury.

Nayenezgani couldn’t tell if Teelget had died or not, so Ground Squirrel volunteered to inspect. “Teelget never pays attention to me”, he explained. “If he is dead, I will dance and sing on his antlers”. Sure enough, Ground Squirrel celebrated on top of the fallen monster, and painted his face with Teelget’s blood; ground squirrels still have streaks on their face after that day. In some retellings Chipmunk fills this role, painting stripes down his back.

A chunk of antler and a piece of liver were taken by Nayenezgani as trophies, but Gopher went to work at once skinning Teelget. “I will wear his skin, so that when humans increase once more, they will be reminded of Teelget’s appearance”. And to this day, rounded, hairy gophers still wear the skin that Teelget once wore.

References

Alexander, H. B. (1916) The Mythology of All Races v. X: North American. Marshall Jones Company, Boston.

Locke, R. F. (1990) Sweet Salt: Navajo folktales and mythology. Roundtable Publishing Company, Santa Monica.

Matthews, W. (1897) Navaho legends. Houghton Mifflin and Company, New York.

O’Bryan, A. (1956) The Diné: Origin Myths of the Navaho Indians. Bulletin 163 of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.