Ndogbojusui

Mende · numen · Mende traditional religion; continuing · numen

Ndogbojusui (Ndɔgbɔjusui) is the individuated male spirit of the deep forest in Mende belief, the masculine counterpart to the river maiden Tingoi among the nature genii called dyinyinga. He is described as resembling a man with pale or white skin and a long white beard, encountered by hunters and solitary travellers far from the village. In the accounts gathered by Harris and Sawyerr and by Kenneth Little, he engages people in conversation and tries to lead them astray or draw them into a bargain: riches and extraordinary luck for a term of years, after which the beneficiary must follow him into the bush as his servant. Folk wisdom holds that he can be defeated by contrary speech, since he grants the opposite of what is asked of him. He remains a stock figure of Mende storytelling and moral instruction about greed.

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