The Zankallala is a terrifyingly mighty creature from the folklore of the Hausa people. He is only the size of two clenched fists, but he wields a snake as a walking-stick, a pair of scorpions as spurs, and a swarm of bees as a hat. His mount is a jerboa. Wherever he goes, he is followed by birds that sing his praises and attack his enemies. He is also implied to have supernatural powers.
Even the dodo, the fearsome monster, the Swallower-of-Men, is powerless before the Zankallala. Once a boy was being chased by a dodo along a riverbank, and he came upon the Zankallala.
“Where are you going?” asked the Zankallala. “I’m running away from Dodo”, said the boy. “Stay”, said the creature. “The Dodo will not harm you”. And immediately a silk-cotton tree grew over the Zankallala, and the birds in it sang in praise.
“The Lion is afraid of the Zankallala,
The Hyena is afraid of the Zankallala,
Dodo is afraid of the Zankallala”.
When the dodo caught up with his quarry, he was nonplussed. “Where is my property?” he demanded. But the Zankallala responded impudently, saying “What property have you given me?” This infuriated the dodo. “If you will not give me my prey, then you will be my meal!”
With that the dodo gobbled up the tiny creature, only for the Zankallala to emerge from his stomach, accompanied by the joyous chorus of the birds. Then the dodo ate him again, but the Zankallala came out of his back, telling the birds to continue singing his praises. The third time the dodo swallowed him, the Zankallala emerged from the monster’s head, killing it.
“You may leave in safety”, the Zankallala told the boy, “you have seen that one is stronger than another, you escaped because you met me”.
This tale of a small trickster creature outwitting the dodo is sometimes told with a centipede or hedgehog replacing the Zankallala.
References
Tremearne, A. J. N. (1913) Hausa Superstitions and Customs. J. Bale and Sons and Danielsson, Ltd., London.
He sounds awesome to be friends with!
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He will protect you from anything!
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You’d think the dodo would have figured out this wasn’t going to work after the second time, but I guess when you’re a giant swallower monster you don’t usually have to use your brain much.
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They’re not the sharpest bulbs in the box.
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There a no words for how cool this little guy is. The story makes him even cooler. I adore the illustration as well.
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Thank you *-*
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What a cool guy.
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No strings attached, no bargains, he just helps out because he can!
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Growing a tree that produces a flock of birds specifically to be your hype squad while you do your thing is the most absolutely boss move and I love it. 😀
Next time I put a high-powered faerie in a fantasy RPG campaign they’re definitely going to do this.
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If your opponent does that you might as well give up while you still can
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J’adore ! ❤
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Merciiii!
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He’s adorable. I can imagine him randomly showing up to bail out Jake and Finn in the land of Ooo.
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The guy wears venomous animals and uses his powers for good.
…
He sounds like a guy I would write about.
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Love how he rides a jerboa
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Who wouldn’t?
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Coolest tiny badass and the jerboa steed is just butter!
But, sure the map is right? (Hausa are indigenous to north Nigeria and south Niger, i.e. the Sahel and savanna region, not the coast)
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I’ll have to fix that then! D:
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