Bestiary |
Cyclopes
One-eyed giants are quite familiar inhabitants of Greek myth. They appear in a number of stories, starting with the oldest. Although Homer, the most popular authority, tells of the whole nation, in the depths of the ages, only three were known: Steropes, Brontes, and Arges.
Their father was Uranos himself, their mother was the earth goddess Gaia. The offspring never made it to the Greek gods, (though this was more likely due to the upbringing or nature of the fathers) and in time the three One-Eyes wandered pretty far down into Tartarus. They didn't stay there long; another son of Uranus, Kronos, pulled them out to help him stage the first great Olympian coup.
Cyclops done, Cyclops can go, no sooner had Uranus' testicles ended up in the sea, the One-Eyes wandered back behind the prison bars. As did the Hecatoncheires (who, incidentally, were sometimes considered the fathers of the Cyclopes). And, like the Hundred-Hands, these giants waited until even Kronos' time had come. As blacksmiths - haven't I said yet that the Cyclopes were renowned smiths? - they also contributed to the armaments. For Zeus, they forged the Lightning, for Poseidon the proverbial trident, and to Hades they bestowed the helmet of invisibility.
Perhaps because Zeus had no children, at least at the time, all his followers remained at large, the Cyclopes (in the later Roman version) moving in as Hephaestus' assistants under Etna and producing the tried and tested lightning bolts. But history continues, even Zeus had a descendant, the solar Apollo. This time, there was no coup, but the conflict between father and son was fatal for the three aforementioned smiths. For when Zeus killed Apollo's son, the physician Asclepius, Apollo took revenge by shooting the Cyclopes.
The Cyclopes, incidentally, had in the meantime managed to develop a reputation as pedagogical boogeymen, when, because of their appearance and the noise of their work, ancient mothers were frightened disobedient offspring by Steropes, Brontes, and Arges.
Before we get to the next, now most popular story involving the one-eyed giants, let me recall a bit of theory.
Cyclops translates as “With a circle around the eye”, which apparently refers to the tattooing of the foreheads of members of the blacksmith's guild with an ornament of concentric circles in which, of course, look for the symbol of the sun. They seem to have formed a kind of elite group, a closed society or (Thracian) tribe. Local blacksmiths at that time usually had other identifying marks; they were usually lame - as Robert Graves, for example, suggests, they were probably deliberately mutilated to avoid escaping to another tribe. Which could be one of the reasons why the Cyclops' employer, Hephaestus, limped. Another possibility for why the Cyclopes were one-eyed is the eye-patch, which the smiths used to protect their eyesight.
Back to the myths.
The second generation of Cyclopes were characterized by rudeness and not very good manners. Through Thrace, Crete, and Lycia, they made their way somewhere in North Africa, a land shunned by men and gods alike. Their neighbours, the Phaeacians, even preferred to move away after a while.
The reclusive giants then became famous by two names - Ulysses, as a representative of the people, and Polyphemos, as a one-eyed oaf. The story of the former is sufficiently well known and belongs to this narrative only as a minor episode, though a fatal one for Polyphemos. But this Cyclops was not born for this story alone; I know a tale in which he made a bid for Nereus' daughter Galatea. He even began to comb and wash himself this way outside of Christmas, but when he saw the object of his interest in convivial conversation with a young man named Achides, he could not restrain himself, picked up a stone and killed Achides. Galatea fled to the sea in preference to the giant suitor.
No wonder, then, that when the victor from Troy, Ulysses, found a cave on his wandering journey home, he (in the words of the great Homer)
Here dwelt a man
Of giant bulk, who by himself, alone,
Was wont to tend his flocks.
He never held
Converse with others, but devised apart
His wicked deeds
(HOMER. The Odyssey. translated from Homeric Greek in 1879 by William Cullen Bryant).
By now, you probably all know the story, so in one sentence - Ulysses and his sailors requisitioned some Cyclops provisions, Polyphemus ate some sailors, whereupon his eye was gouged out in his drunken stupor. This was followed by an escape in the cover of sheep and a flight to the ship. Only from there did Ulysses boast of his true name (until then he had called himself Nobody in front of Polyphemus). Which was a mistake. For the blind Cyclops turned to his father, Poseidon, and begged for revenge. Ulysses' journey was again prolonged.
And Cyclops... a moment. Father Poseidon? And Cyclops the shepherd (which he was; like his comrades, Polyphemos had long since made his living not as a blacksmith but as a shepherd)? There's a stumbling block here somewhere.
I've already exceeded the usual length of the story, so I won't drag it out. Homer's Cyclops is most likely not the descendant of the three older ring-eyed smiths. The man-eating one-eyed giant is a hero of a somewhat different character and origin from a different region, (Graves mentions a similar Caucasian tale), the presence of a similar motif in the stories of many European peoples perhaps referring to a common Indo-European origin lost in deep history.
Polyphemus by Giulio Romano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
9.5. 2025 (1.12.2004)
Géryonés
The parents of the three-bodied giant were Chrysaor and Callirhoe, whose more famous offspring was the monstrous Echidna. The latter absorbed most of the family's fame, while her brother was quieter, living in seclusion on the island of Erythea in the middle of Oceanus and raising cattle. As a farmer, he was excellent and reputed, so Hercules (yes, again, and I hope I get around to writing something about him as well, to improve his profile a bit) was given the task of bringing Geryon's flock to Mycenae. In the process, not only did Cacos and Skylla later lose their lives, and the insatiable Charybdis lose her divine serenity, but Geryon and his guards, the two-headed dog Orthus and the giant Eurytion, fell at the heart of the action.
From today's perspective, Hercules was a pretty bastard in general, but this - in my opinion, pretty dirty - task was as much the responsibility of his employer Eurystheus as any other: for the brief stipulated that the hero must bring Geryon's flocks without asking or paying for them. Still, it strikes me that Hercules may not have come clean from the triple murder (at least that I know of). Altough he wounded Hera herself in the robbery.
According to a less fantastic version, the conquest was a great campaign into western Spain, where King Chrysaor, nicknamed Geryonês, ruled with his three sons, and Hercules had to raise a strong army to accomplish the task.
9.5. 2025 (17.4.2006)
Jack-in-Irons
Jack-in-Irons is a home law in Britain, more specifically in Yorkshire, where he haunts the roadsides, rattling the chains that gird him. Although one version has it that he is the ghost of a prisoner (hence the handcuffs), there is no doubt about his current size. He is huge and hugely dangerous, beating his victims with a spiked club, as you can see, he doesn't have metal in his name for nothing.
9.5. 2025 (23.4.2006)
Thiazi
A giant from Scandinavian legends who got involved, how else, with the local gods. It's a tale typical of the stormy Norse myths, including the denouement of quite a different story, but you can learn about that in the tale of the giantess Skadi, who was Thiazi's daughter.
The Norse giants were not only great, but also very skilled in magic. The metamorphosis into an eagle was therefore not unusual for Thiazi, who once flew from Thrymheim, a Jotunheim mountain fortress, to Midgard in this conspicuously inconspicuous form. Odin, Loki, and Honir were having an ox-roasting party there, and when the bird asked them if he could have a piece of meat as well, they unsuspectingly agreed.
The giant's physiology also assumes a giant stomach, and Thiazi fulfilled the assumption, devouring the entire roast. Thus provoking Loki into an ill-advised outburst of rage, the god picked up a wooden club and attempted to impale the eagle, the disguised Thiazi countered in time and took to the air, with the club and Loki not letting go. A precarious situation.
In exchange for his freedom, the god promised him the goddess Idunn and her apples of eternal youth. Strangely enough, he kept his promise, Thiazi let him go, Loki lured Idunn and her basket of fruit to the rainbow bridge of Bifrost, and the gianteagle took her.
Such dealings gave Loki no trouble; worse was the case with the other Asgardian gods, who, upon learning that they had lost the apples of eternal youth plus a fellow god, pinned Loki to the wall. Idun or Life.
Easy choice.
With the aid of a magical falcon skin (Thiazi used the same thing to his metamorphosis, only made from an eagle), Loki, as a raptor, embarked on a secret mission to Jotunheim. He found Idun, turned her into a nut and took her home.
Thiazi followed him to Asgard. Loki took it pretty close around the walls, behind which Odin and co. lurked, ready for the pursuer to get within range. Or rather, within range of a fire, which they quickly lit. It burned the orb's wings, and the downed Thiazi was easily finished off by the gods.
His eyes may have taken to the sky like a mini-constellation of two stars, but you'll have to admit that against the possibility of eternal youth he held in his grasp, so to speak, it's not much.
9.5. 2025 (23.4.2006)
Skadi
The Scandinavian giantess Skadi (older name Skaoi) is in the first case the personification of Winter, in the second the actor of an interesting choice of husband.
For when the gods found out that she was going to avenge the death of her father Thiazi (which they had on their conscience) and that she might succeed, they decided to offer one of their kind to the embittered giantess as a marital reparation. She could choose any of them, but the condition was that she would do so only by the legs. Which disproves the long-held assertion that no woman would fall in love with anyone just because they had nice legs. Skadi, in fact, saw one that she thought was pretty and apparently belonged to the god Baldr.
Of course, she was wrong; those legs belonged to Njord.
Marriage to the winner wasn't worth much. The newlywed wanted to live in Thrymheim in the mountains, Njord in his palace at the bottom of the sea. So they moved every ninth day. This arrangement couldn't and didn't last long, and after a while, they were living in their own place, until finally Skadi divorced and married the god Ull.
Illustration of Njord and Skadi wandering to Njordr's home Nóatún by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (1845-1921) after an original by Friedrich Wilhelm Engelhard (1813-1902). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
9.5. 2025 (5.12.2004)
Mantyo
Mantyo are friendly, skinny and long-haired Philippine giants, growing up to three metres tall, usually wearing little or no clothing and living under tall trees. Their sleeping position is interesting - they sleep standing up.
9.5. 2025 (5.12.2004)
Stodolník
In South Bohemia, it took the form of a large bellows with a hat on top, wrapped around the hay rope; elsewhere it walked in armour and its bones were iron. Whichever way he looked, he fulfilled the same function, namely guarding the barn or granary and especially its contents, the grain. However, he did not hunt mice, but thieves; the barn-keeper, wrapped in metal, beat the captured robber to death, as punished by the South Bohemian inflatable one I do not know. In any case, the Přístodolník (another version of its name) service was not very effective, the rattler has long since disappeared from the barn, the thieves unfortunately not yet.
9.5. 2025 (12.12.2004)
Zwarte Madam
You can fight off this Flemish witch by simply using Christian symbols, but the problem is that the lady in the service of the devil who collects souls for his infernal collection is described differently each time, so I can't help you identify the suspect, you have to trust your instincts.
9.5. 2025 (12.12.2004)
Ventolines
The Ventolines are based in Cantabria, in the north of Spain. The little winds, as their name is said to be translated into English, are easy-going little men with delicate faces, large green wings and foamy white eyes.
Like espumeros from the same region, ventolines help fishermen by sending a suitable wind to drive the boats of weary boaters into the harbour. Unlike other aerial creatures, they do not seek destruction, preferring instead to help people.
9.5. 2025 (12.12.2004)
Koshchei the Immortal
When someone appears in a story who carries the moniker of Invincible, Indomitable, Most Powerful, or, heaven forbid, Immortal, it's clear.
In the case of the quite often cast main villain of Russian tales, it also turned out as expected (not only Hollywood films have their clichés), but none of the heroes who have been convicted of lying by Koshchei's surname had it easy and did not do without outside help.
For the gaunt, often aged-looking villain never relies solely on his knowledge of black magic, of which he is the supreme exponent. Nor does he rely (not so often) on his original calling, namely death, of which he was a symbol. Like any dark mage, he is of a practical nature, and so he has insured himself by depositing his heart, or soul, in an inconspicuous object, hidden in inconspicuous animals found in various backwaters.
It should be noted that this practice is not at all original. In The Golden Bough, James Frazer devoted an entire chapter not only to Koshchei, he also mentioned a Scandinavian giant, an evil magician from Hindustan with his soul hidden in a parrot, and mentioned a Siamese legend in which the Ceylonese Prince Ravana leaves his heart at home, when he goes to war, recalled Greek stories, a Germanic ogre named Body Without a Soul, a Scottish giant and an Irish giant, as well as a certain evil lama from Mongolia, and he didn't stop there. He then went on to talk about folk magic from all over the world, which allows the same insurance practice to us mere mortals. Whereby we can easily trace the origin of it all to what is usually called the Double. In this variant of the Outer Soul, the soul may be inactive, resting in safe hiding, but there is a certain affinity.
Before we return to Koshchei and his kin. They usually have one thing in common: they usually steal princesses. Of course, in such a trade, safety is paramount. Although security... it usually ends up like an x5fdE4i56gDwY internet banking password scribbled on a piece of paper under the desk glass. Because, unlike real life, the Evil in the tales is naive and stupid. All it takes is a false flattery, and Koshchei explains to the kidnapped princess that:
"Beyond the nine mountains and the nine forests, there is an oak tree, on the oak tree there is a box, in the box there is a duck, the duck holds an egg in its beak, and in the egg is my death."
Sometimes a needle is added, stuck in the egg, the box is buried under the roots of an oak tree, which grows on the island of Buyan, remembering that we are dealing with a really ancient legend. By the way, it is precisely because of the story and its rules that Ivan or any other hero, whom the princess warmly spits out everything, never cracks the egg right away, but only in front of Koshchei 's eyes, biting the first and at the same time definitely the last frightened look of the dreaded villain.
Koshchei's nickname, by the way, did not lie in a certain look. The dark magician has become one of the most mined figures in Russian folklore; leaving aside Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's domestic opera or a brief mention in the Strugatsky brothers' Monday Begins on Saturday, Koshchei the Immortal has also appeared as a literary character in Neil Gaiman's American Gods, in several of James Branch Cabell's books, and possibly in Heinlein's novel Job.
The attached image comes from Andrew Lang's Red Book of Fairy Tales, H J Ford, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
9.5. 2025 (12.12.2004)
Mahu-ike
Firstly, Mahu-ike is a Polynesian deity of fire of uncertain gender, sometimes referred to as him, sometimes her. He is in charge of fire and earthquakes. After all, the famous oceanic hero Maui solicited fire for mankind from Mahu-ike.
Well, in the latter case, Mahu-ike is the forefather of a Maori tribe of man-eating ogres.
9.5. 2025 (26.12.2004)
John Barleycorn
In Britain, it's usually represented by the last sheaf of the harvest, so clearly we're dealing with a vegetation demon. As a sheaf, it is usually ceremoniously burned to ensure a bountiful harvest the following year.
9.5. 2025 (26.12.2004)
En-kai
All African Maasai pray to this rain or sun, in any case chief god; however, only the iloibonok, or magicians, are in daily contact with En-kai, realized by dreams, trance, or chanting. And since no major matter of Maasai life can be done without En-kai's permission, the iloibonoks who interpret the divine decisions are certainly fully occupied.
9.5. 2025 (26.12.2004)
Engai
The goddess Engai lives on a mountain called God's Mountain. Or Ol Doinyo Lengai, if you want it in Maasai. It's not just any ordinary hill somewhere in the middle of Tanzania; it's over two kilometres high, as befits the seat of God, and it's a volcano. A very interesting volcano. While, for example, Hawaii's Pele has moved into the stormy crater of Kilauea volcano, Engai lives in an interesting environment with quite cold natrocarbonatite lava at just over five hundred degrees Celsius, erupting in rapidly cooling geysers, solid before they hit the ground, or flowing out in dark rivulets. Both are beautiful formations (unfortunately with very low durability), and their photos can be found, for example, in National Geographic, January 2003.
But let's get to the inhabitant of Ol Doinyo Lengai. When a god lives in a volcano, he understandably shows his displeasure by erupting. Engai does too, and sometimes adds drought. The Maasai make long pilgrimages to the mountain and its goddess to make up for the lack of moisture by begging for rain. But because Engai is a goddess of high rank and esteem, they also ask her to correct many other woes of life: for fertility of women and cattle (for the Maasai are primarily herdsmen), for help with this or that.
The Maasai, however, as has been said here recently, most often turn to a distant god named En-kai. Engai is not likely to be its female counterpart, perhaps only a regional form, or, even that is possible, an error due to poor translation.
9.5. 2025 (17.4.2005)
Hippogryph
Iunguntur iam gryphes equis, or to cross horses with griffins, used to be a saying denoting absolute nonsense. However, it also took a long time for such a creature to come into existence; contrary to current belief, probably in the sixteenth century and in the mind of Lodovico Ariosto:
For him a filly to griffin bore;
Hight hippogryph. In wings and beak and crest,
Formed like his sire, as in the feet before;
But like the mare, his dam, in all the rest.
the poet told us in Orlando Furioso (translated from Italian in 1823 by William Stewart Rose). The Hippogryph, or monster of the second tier (for the father is already a monster), soon found its way into the human imagination, whether as a symbol of love or of spiritual ascent. Or later, in our own time, as the hero of J.K. Rowling's book, which saw hippogryphs populate the world of Harry Potter. In the film treatment of the incriminated work, namely Prisoner of Azkaban - you can get a good look at one faithful imitation from the imagination of director Alfonso Cuarón and the ILM experts.
9.5. 2025 (1.1.2005)
Gran Bwa
A loa of Haitian voodoo living deep in the forests, sometimes called Grand Bois or Ganga-Bois. He takes his mission as a protector of wildlife seriously and from the ground up, being a vegetarian and eating fruits and vegetables most of the day, so when he is invoked, he is not hungry. Still, he is always sacrificed some food.
9.5. 2025 (9.1.2005)
Marinette-bwa-chech
This Haitian lady, Marinette with withered arms, is one of the loa petro, or evil voodoo deities. Although her animal is an owl, it is not an attribute of wisdom, but information that those possessed by Marinetta feel themselves turning into a bird, clasping their hands and feeling their fingers turn into claws. Women who have turned into werewolves can ask her for protection, as werewolves are her favorite monsters.
Her domain is mainly in the south of Haiti, where she is worshipped and invoked in ceremonies held under a tent lit by a large fire into which salt is thrown and gasoline is poured. Also, chickens are torn alive. Marinetta herself likes to walk in the woods, whether accompanied by her lawful husband, who is Ti-Jean-pied-sec, I do not know. But I do know that this little man, dressed in red, bounces on one leg, and when he is hungry, climbs up a palm tree, from where he leaps to hunt unsuspecting passers-by.
9.5. 2025 (9.1.2005)
Congo and Congo Savanne
While Congo is a loa of pleasant appearance and apathetic nature, Congo Savanne is a dangerously violent and strong loa petro. And if the Congo feeds on spicy salads and mixed drinks, the Congo Savanne eats people.
9.5. 2025 (9.1.2005)
Aigamuxa
Hotentots are not hotentots. Their name is Khoin (or Khoin-khoin). They live in southern Africa, and the boogeymen of their myths are generally interesting creatures.
The Aigamuxa, for example, are man-eating monsters lurking in the dunes. To see what they are stepping in, they have eyes on their feet, but this requires a rather curious posture to see where they are going - they have to crawl on their elbows and knees, with one leg raised up.
9.5. 2025 (30.1.2005)
Ga-gorib
It's basically a larger antlion larva. In fact, it uses a similar hunting trick to this interesting insect: it sits by a large pit and throws rocks at passersby. It unerringly strikes and knocks its victims down, but the past tense would be more appropriate here, as the Ga-gorib once tried to get the famous Hottentot hero Heitsi-eibib, which, as is usual in such cases, backfired cruelly.
9.5. 2025 (30.1.2005)
Hai-Uri
Half creature. That he is, half invisible, with one leg, one arm and half a body, it would be a bit like a European monocoli if we weren't so far away. On one leg, he hops over Kalahari bushes and eats people.
He has several relatives outside of Khoin legends, for example, the Zulus do not take much credit for the existence of a creature named Tikdoshe, also a one–(fill in the relevant organs) dwarf. If you manage to defeat him, you can gain a decent knowledge of magic, which Tikdoshe will offer as a reward; his – unfortunately much more common – victory means inevitable death.
The Zulus have it close to the Khoins. But another monster, one-legged, one-armed, and half-invisible, lives in Central Africa, which is already quite interesting. His name is Chiruwi, and he behaves just like Tikdoshe – he challenges everyone to a duel to the death and presents, the defeated opponent is killed, the winner is rewarded with magic.
9.5. 2025 (30.1.2005)
