Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/178

 170 comes and is snared. Near our town (says the author of this account) is a hole in the rock where the people think there is a songòmby. "When it sees any one it attacks them fiercely, but the female, it is said, does not fight much, but only encourages the male, so that they always go together. It once happened, they say, that a certain man was going about by night, and met with the songòmby. He fought most bravely all night, and being a very strong man was not hurt. Another story about it is that a naughty child was put by its father and mother outside the house, and would have been devoured by one of these creatures had it not been quickly rescued. And another day, the tale goes, a child was punished in the same way, the parents calling out, "Here's your share, Mr. Songòmby!" Then the beast really came up, whereupon the child cried out, "Oh, here he really is!" But the parents replied, "Well, let him eat you," thinking it was only the child's deception. After a little while they opened the door, and lo! the child had gone. So the parents and the villagers made a great stir, and took torches to seek it, and lo! there was child's blood dropped on the road all the way to the beast's den. Many other stories are also told, which the people think confirm the truth of the existence of this creature.

2.—The Fanàny with Seven Heads. This creature, they say, is something which comes from man, for there are certain people whose intestines turn into fanàny; but sometimes it does not come from their intestines, but from their corpse as a whole when it becomes corrupt. On this account it is said to be a frequent custom in certain districts in the south for the people to take the intestines of their dead relatives and place them in a river or small pool, so that they may turn into a fanàny. But the people who change into this creature, they say, are of royal (or noble) descent. So that because of this belief they kill oxen when they see a large creature they believe to be a fanàny, and give it blood and rum to drink and ox-hump to eat. "When it first appears, they say it ascends into the town where it was produced, that is, where the person from whom it came formerly lived; and there the people of the place ask it, "Art thou Such-anone?" And if the name they mention was really its own, it nods its head; but if it does not correspond, it shakes its head. Then they go on mentioning the names of all the famous deceased nobles in the surrounding district until the creature acknowledges one of them as its own; and as soon as this is arrived at they kill oxen as just described.