Humanoids

Umutwa

Variations: Abatwa (pl., often used as singular), Chitowe, Katsumbakazi, Maithoachiana, Mkonyingo, Mumbonelekwapi, Wabilikimo

Umutwa

First contact between different people is never easy. Sometimes one group ends up exaggerated, romanticized, altered until they are virtually unrecognizable. It was this process that turned Saracens into malevolent mountain goblins, and which caused the San bushmen to shrink to near-microscopic size in Zulu folklore, resulting in the Abatwa. The term is still used in Zulu to refer to bushmen, and some identify as Abatwa, but the Abatwa of folklore are supernatural and unmistakeable.

The Abatwa, Umutwa in the singular, are the smallest of all fairies. They live in the rugged uplands, where they use blades of grass as shelters and sleep in anthills. Abatwa have no fixed village apart from their bivouacs in the anthills. The only times they are sedentary are when they kill game; even then they stay around the carcass only as long as it takes to fully consume it. Sometimes the Abatwa ride horses in search of game. In such cases, dozens of the tiny warriors sit atop one horse, in a line from head to tail. If their hunt is unsuccessful, they do the next best thing and eat the horse.

Despite their size, they are deadly hunters, armed with poisoned arrows that can kill even elephants. Being stalked and killed by Abatwa is a nightmare, as you face foes too small to see; they are like driver ants, or puff adders, virtually invisible, yet disproportionately deadly. However, they are also self-conscious about being tiny, to the point of being very touchy about it. This insecurity is outweighed by an enormous ego. Abatwa are vulnerable to flattery.

When one meets an Umutwa and hails him with the traditional Sa-ku-bona (“I have seen you”), the Umutwa is immediately suspicious. “Where did you see me?” If you answer “I haven’t seen you before”, “Just now”, or words to that effect, the Umutwa, furious about this slight on his size, will immediately draw his bow and shoot you dead.

Clearly a more diplomatic approach is in order. Creativity is vital here, as is exaggeration and, above all, sincere delivery. “I last saw you on my way here. See that mountain on the horizon? I was on top of it when I saw you, I couldn’t mistake you for anyone else”. Then the Umutwa smiles with pride, secure in the knowledge that despite being tiny, he is still a towering and respected figure.

The motif of tiny warriors with height insecurity is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. All of these creatures, associated with different cultures, can be dealt with in the same way as the Abatwa, and respond negatively (and lethally) to going unnoticed.

If you flatter the Katsumbakazi of the Giryama, something lucky will happen to you.

The Maithoachiana of the Akikyu in Dagoreti are a cannibal race that are rich and skilled in metalworking.

The Wabilikimo of the Swahili live four days’ journey from Chaga, and are only twice the length from the middle finger to the elbow.

The Itowe (singular Chitowe) of the Machinga Yao rob gardens, rot pumpkins, turn fruits bitter, and leave footprints everywhere. Putting some of your crops at cross-roads will help placate them. They are like men but run on all fours. The related Mumbonelekwapi have long beards.

The Wakonyingo (singular Mkonyingo) of the Wachaga have enormous, misshapen heads and hide on Mount Kilimanjaro; none are bigger than a little boy. They have ladders that reach into the sky. They never lie down but lean against a wall, as getting up is hard with their top-heavy build. Wakonyingo take pity on people in trouble and will help them if they are lost. They leave bits of meat when sacrificing to their ancestors; the meat rolls down the mountain and turns into white-necked ravens. They are somewhat less touchy than the others mentioned, but can still exact terrible vengeance.

References

Ananikian, M. H. and Werner, A. (1964) The Mythology of All Races v. VII: Armenian and African. Cooper Square Publishers, New York.

Callaway, C. (1868) Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus. Trübner and Co., London.

Arragouset

Variations: Arragousset, Sarregouset, Sarragouset

Arragouset 2

Jean Letocq, a shepherd on the west coast of Guernsey, woke up one morning to see hundreds of little people streaming out of the Creux des Fées (Fairies’ Hollow). They were armed to the teeth, carrying weapons made of sharpened shells. They told the man to bear their message: they wished to take human wives, and would be strongly displeased if women were not turned over to them. This ultimatum was refused, and so the fairies slaughtered every last man they encountered, dying the sea red with blood. The only survivors, a man and a boy of St. Andrew’s parish, hid in an abandoned oven for years.

They were the Arragousets, or Sarregousets as Hugo called them. We know that they were bellicose fairies of the sea, dwelling underwater and in seaside caves, ruling their own marine kingdom. One of their number once took a human woman for his wife, and her beauty and wit so enamored the other fairies that they had to follow suit.

With the men safely massacred, the Arragousets put down the sword and went native. They married the maidens and the newly-widowed, and lived peacefully on land. They made caring husbands and doting fathers, to the extent that the widows warmed to them, and the maidens were delighted with their fairy lovers.

Then, after years of peace, they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. The circumstances remain mysterious. Sébillot suggests that they were recalled by their king, while MacCulloch states that their time on land was limited. Whatever the reason, all the Arragousets left the island and were never seen again.

Or rather, they went invisible, as their presence remained on Guernsey. They sired a new generation of boys and girls – intelligent, able sailors of small stature – and they returned regularly to watch over them. They did a hundred little favors in the hopes of finishing the work they had started. Arragousets are always ready to help their descendants, but they are pitiless in dealing with offenders.

Hugo said they can still be seen on stormy days, dancing in the clouds and longing to return to the land.

References

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

Hugo, V. (1866) Les Travailleurs de la Mer. Librairie Internationale, Paris.

MacCulloch, E. (1903) Guernsey Folk Lore. Elliot Stock, London.

Sébillot, P. (1905) Le Folk-lore de France, Tome Deuxième: La Mer et les Eaux Douces. Librairie Orientale et Américaine, Paris.

Munuanë

Variations: Munuane, Munuani

Munuane

Munuanë is either a single entity or an entire species of ogres native to the Guahibo people of Colombia and Venezuela. Many stories end with him being outsmarted and killed, which would be slightly inconvenient if he was one person.

Munuanë plies the waterways of the jungle on a makeshift raft. He is tall and powerful, with long grey hair, but his mouth is as toothless as a turtle’s. He loves eating human flesh, but his lack of teeth forces him to prepare his meals before eating them. Munuanë lacks eyes in his head, instead having them in his knees. Those eyes are his weak spot, as he is invulnerable everywhere but his knees. His wife is called Matasoropapénayo, or “Little-bone-of-the-crown”, and they live together in a hut in the deepest part of the jungle.

He is the “grandfather of fish”, and claims ownership over all the fish in the river. Fishermen are advised to bring in their catch as quickly as possible and not fish more than they need, as Munuanë hates greed, and mesmerizes overfishers into walking off ravines. Other times he shoots offenders with his arrow – Munuanë always carries around only one arrow, as he never misses his target. He is also an insatiable sexual predator, and his victims turn into termites.

It is said that a man once met Munuanë while out fishing, and did not manage to escape in time. Fortunately, Munuanë is not particularly bright, and accidentally shot the man’s reflection in the water instead of the man himself. By the time Munuanë had retrieved the arrow, his quarry had managed to swim away. Munuanë chased after the man and followed him to his village, where he ran rampant. But the man realized what Munuanë’s weakness was, shot him in the eye, and killed him instantly.

Such are the tales of Munuanë. Sometimes he is outsmarted by a powerful shaman. At other times a friendly spirit – Banajuli or Banaxuruni – is there to reveal his weak spot. Sometimes he is transformed into a rotten tree stump when he dies, with the arrow that killed him still embedded in the trunk. The entire forest cries out upon his death; he may be an ogre, but he also cares for the jungle and the fish of the river.

References

Kondo, R. L. W.; Kondo, V. F.; Maltoni, R.; Gómez, F. O.; Queixalós, F.; and Vargas, E.; Wilbert, J. and Simoneau, K. eds. (1992) Folk Literature of the Sikuani Indians. UCLA Latin American Center Publications, University of California, Los Angeles.

Scarbo

Scarbo

Scarbo is a vampiric dwarf with specialized tastes. He enjoys nothing more than entering the rooms of poets, artists, and writers, and spending the night tormenting them. With his razor-sharp fangs, he bites into his host’s neck, then helpfully cauterizes the bloody wound with a metal finger heated red-hot.

He clambers around the victim’s room, scrabbling at the rafters, scratching at the bedposts. He whispers threats into their ears – and his creativity knows no bounds, as he describes in loving detail the burial shroud he has planned for his victim, the funeral that he will hold, and the sobbing children that will gather in his wake.

He spends the entire night in the room, growing larger as the moon rises, then, as dawn approaches, he flickers, turns blue and translucent, and winks out like a snuffed candle.

Scarbo’s primary contributions to the arts are the Gothic prose poem Gaspard de la Nuit, reportedly written by the Devil himself, and the piano piece of the same name by Ravel, which matches his fiendish activities with its fiendish difficulty.

References

Bertrand, L. (1904) Gaspard de la Nuit. Ambroise Vollard, Paris.