Teo, the cloud-maiden

Teo is a maiden of the clouds and the mother of Elal. Carried off by the cannibal giant Nóshtex and confined in his cave, she conceives the culture-hero there; when the giant, fearing Kóoch's prophecy, tears the unborn child from her, the infant Elal is rescued by a tuco-tuco. Teo's celestial nature—she is literally a cloud—pairs with the sky-god Kóoch and the giant of the older world to frame Elal's mixed origin between heaven and the monstrous earth.

Children

• Elal

Domains

• clouds and mist
• motherhood and birth

Powers

• to give birth to the culture-hero Elal as the cloud-mother

Epithets

• Teo

Relations

• captive of: Nóshtex

Sources

• Bórmida, Marcelo & Alejandra Siffredi. "Mitología de los tehuelches meridionales." RUNA: Archivo para las Ciencias del Hombre 12 (1969-70): 199-245.
• Wilbert, Johannes & Karin Simoneau, eds. Folk Literature of the Tehuelche Indians. UCLA Latin American Center Publications. Los Angeles: University of California, 1984.