The Ol (also Al, Hal) is the dreaded demon of childbirth, a hideous female being with disheveled hair, pendulous breasts, and long claws who attacks women in labour and during the puerperium, together with their newborn infants. She is said to tear out and devour the mother's liver or lungs, which she carries to water, contact with water being fatal to the victim. Tat custom guards the new mother by never leaving her alone, by keeping a lamp burning through the night, and by setting iron — a knife, skewer, or nail — at the bedside, for the Ol dreads iron and light. In many Tat villages she is named euphemistically as Dedei-Ol, 'Mother Ol,' a placating address meant to avert her malice.