Tokoloshe

I checked out three books to read last month from my Bookworms book club mobile library. The Tears of Dark Water by Corbin Addison, The Prophesy of Bees by R.S. Pateman, and this lttle ditty, Tokoloshe Song by Andrew Salomon.

I was very familiar with the settings in Tokoloshe Song - Cape Town, Mossel Bay and Nieu Bethesda - but not with the species of the title character, the tokoloshe.

Tokoloshes have a special place in South African folklore. Somewhere between a bogeyman and a gremlin, there are a number of theories about exactly what a tokoloshe is.

In Zulu mythology, a tokoloshe is a dwarf-like water sprite. It is considered a mischievous and evil spirit that can become invisible by drinking water. Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others. At its least harmful, a tokoloshe can be used to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness and even death upon the victim.








Another variation is that the tokoloshe resembles a zombie, poltergeist, or gremlin, created by South African shamans who have been offended by someone.














One  particularly strange tokoloshe practice is its rumored propensity to bite off sleeping people’s toes. (!) According to legend, the only way to keep the tokoloshe away at night is to put a brick beneath each leg of one's bed.

In any case, one can only get rid of a tokoloshe completely by calling in a sangoma who has the power to banish him from the area. Good thing I kept Mama Fina's contact information!