Tradition / Region: Cape Verde Mythology
Alternative names: Nho Lob, Ti’ Lob
Category: Wolf
The Myth
In the folktales of Cape Verde, Lob is a large wolf-like being who constantly falls victim to the tricks of his clever nephew Pedr, also called Tubinh or Subrinh.
Lob is powerful but foolish, greedy, boastful, and easily deceived. Nearly every tale involving him ends in humiliation, injury, or death.
During a terrible famine, Lob agrees to sell his own mother for sacks of corn after Pedr convinces him to do so. Pedr secretly tells his own mother to escape before reaching the market, but Lob truly loses his. Later, Pedr tricks Lob into pulling buried donkey tails from river mud. Lob believes the donkeys are trapped underwater and pulls with all his strength until he falls into the river and nearly drowns.
In another story, Lob borrows feathers from birds so he can attend a dance on an island. But once there, he insults every bird in mocking songs. Furious, the birds each reclaim their feathers and abandon him stranded on the island.
A supernatural sea creature called Peix’ Caball eventually rescues him by carrying him across the water. Yet Lob immediately betrays her kindness by tearing off one of her breasts when they reach shore. Later the creature drags him into the sea to drown him in revenge.
Many of Lob’s stories involve absurd acts of gullibility. Pedr convinces him to hold up a cave roof for three entire days because he falsely claims the cave is collapsing. In another tale, Pedr pours molasses over his head and pretends someone struck him with an axe, causing sweetness to flow from the wound. Lob foolishly orders his wife to strike his own head with an axe so the same thing will happen to him.
In one of the cruelest stories, Pedr is captured for theft and tied up for punishment. He tricks Lob into believing the punishment is actually part of a feast. Excited by the promise of food, Lob takes Pedr’s place and is tortured with red-hot iron while Pedr watches from a hilltop singing mockingly.
Throughout the tales, Lob represents uncontrolled greed, appetite, vanity, and stupidity. Though physically strong and intimidating, he is repeatedly defeated by intelligence and cunning.
The stories belong to a wider Afro-Atlantic trickster tradition descended partly from West African folklore, where large predatory beasts are often humiliated by smaller but cleverer animals.
Sources
Parsons, E. C. (1917). Ten folk-tales from the Cape Verde Islands. The Journal of American Folklore, 30(116), 230–238.