Elmauyz
Nogai · numen · Nogai traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Elmauyz (Nogai form of the Kipchak Zhalmauyz) is the devouring ogress of Nogai and Kazakh-Karakalpak folk-tale. She appears now as a hideous old woman, the 'Elmauyz kempir', luring and swallowing children, now as a many-headed serpent-monster who blocks a spring and doles out its water only for human tribute. In the tales she is the archetypal antagonist whom the young hero must outwit or behead to free captives and water. Her figure preserves an ancient image of the devouring earth- or water-power, the malevolent double of the life-giving spring.
Domains
- devouring
- water
Powers
- swallows people and children whole
- hoards the water of a spring
Sources
- Elmauyz (Kazakh Zhalmauyz) is a cannibal ogress or many-headed she-monster of Kipchak folk-tale, appearing as an old woman (kempir) or a serpent who withholds water.: materials on 'Zhalmauyz kempir' in S. A. Tokarev (ed.), Mify narodov mira, vol. 1 (Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1980) (secondary); A. I.-M. Sikaliev, Nogayskiy geroicheskiy epos (Cherkessk: KChIGI, 1994) (secondary)