Tradition / Region: Argentine Mythology, Chilean Mythology
Alternative names: Waillepeñ, Huallepén, Huallepenyú, Huaillepenyí, Wayfü
Category: Cow
The Myth
The Guallipén is a strange animal with the body of a sheep and the head of a calf. It has four crooked legs, poor-looking wool, and makes a bleating sound like a sheep.
The Guallipén lives in low, humid places near bodies of water, especially swamps known in Mapuche tradition as münoko. It moves by pushing itself forward with its front legs while dragging its hind legs behind it.
On land, the Guallipén is said to be harmless, but in the water it becomes dangerous and attacks fiercely. When it encounters livestock, it can mate with them and cause their offspring to be born with deformities.
A pregnant woman who sees a Guallipén in a perimontu, a supernatural vision, receives a terrible omen concerning her unborn child. Depending on the tradition, the child may be born with deformed or atrophied limbs, rickets, an intellectual disability, or without bones.
Because of this danger, sexual relations near wetlands were traditionally regarded as taboo. A child believed to have been conceived after such an encounter could be described as a wallipeñ kulliñ, an incarnation of the Guallipén.
Sources
“Guallipén.” Wikipedia: La enciclopedia libre (Spanish Wikipedia). Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guallip%C3%A9n