Al Pab is the Rutul form of the female childbirth demon known across the Caucasus and the Turkic world as Al, Albasti or Almasty. She preys on women in labour and on their infants, and in Rutul belief takes a zoomorphic, cat-like shape, whereas Lezgin tradition places her along wooded riverbanks and beside springs and lakes. Defence against her follows the shared Daghestani pattern: millet is strewn on the floor of the birth-room, iron scissors or a knife are laid under the pillow, copper bowls are struck and guns discharged, so that iron and clamour together bar the demon from mother and child.