Tradition / Region: Zulu Mythology, South African Mythology
Alternate Names: Smelly Whiskers; Unomabunge; O’gaul’-iminga; O-nsiba-zimakqembe
Category: Mountain dweller
The Myth
When Untombinde, the king’s daughter, set out for the sacred pools of the Ilulange River, her parents warned her not to go. She ignored them and traveled there with two hundred maidens as her escort.
At the river they bathed and played in the water. But when they came out, their clothes, jewels, and bracelets were gone. They had been taken by Isiququmadevu.
The monster was a vast, bloated being with an enormous mouth, said to be large enough to swallow whole villages. Terrified, the maidens begged for their possessions back. One by one, as they pleaded, the monster returned their things. At last only Untombinde remained.
The others urged her to beg the creature for mercy, but she refused proudly, saying she would not humble herself before it. At once Isiququmadevu seized her and dragged her into the pool.
When King Usikulumi heard what had happened, he sent his army to kill the monster. But Isiququmadevu rose up and swallowed the entire force in one gulp. She then went to the village and devoured everyone there—men, women, children, and cattle—leaving only one man alive. Among the swallowed were his twin children.
The man armed himself with a spear and went in search of the creature. Along the way he asked the animals he met where she had gone, and each told him, “Forward, forward.”
At last he found Isiququmadevu, swollen from all she had eaten and resting in the forest. When he declared that he had come for his children, the monster again tried to mislead him, saying only, “Forward, forward.” But he attacked her with his spear and killed her.
He cut open her body, and from inside came the army, the villagers, and the cattle, all alive. Untombinde came out last.
Other tales tell how a young woman named Usitungusobenthle once cut open the sleeping monster and freed a village she had swallowed, and how a princess named Uluthlazase escaped her by refusing to release her clothes and fleeing while the creature went to seek help.
Thus Isiququmadevu is remembered as a devouring monster who swallows whole communities, yet can be overcome by courage and determination.
Gallery
Sources
abookofcreatures.com contributors. (n.d.). Isiququmadevu. In abookofcreatures.com, from https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/12/04/isiququmadevu/
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Isiququmadevu