Jalmauyz Kempir, the 'devouring old woman', is the cannibal ogress of Kazakh magic tales, a hag who lurks at springs and fords to seize the unwary and swallow them whole. In many tellings she is monstrous and multiple-headed, sometimes counted seven-headed, and in others she guards the water so that the thirsty must yield a child before they may drink. Like the deathless sorcerers of neighboring traditions she may keep her life-soul hidden far outside her body, in an egg or a beast, so that she cannot be slain until the hero discovers and destroys it. She belongs among the underworld and wilderness adversaries whom heroes such as Er Tostik must outwit, the female face of the tale's devouring chaos.