Tradition / Region: Angolan Mythology
Alternative Name: Makishi, Ma-kishi
Category: Forest dweller
The Myth
The Ma-Kishi are supernatural beings from Angolan folklore, often associated with the spirit world, forests, and dangerous encounters with humans. In many tales, they appear as mysterious spirit-like people who live apart from ordinary society and interact with humans through deception, hunting, or abduction.
In one story, several girls escaped from the Ma-Kishi and climbed to the top of a tree to hide from them. The Ma-Kishi followed their tracks and surrounded the tree, preparing to cut it down with their hatchets so the girls would fall into their hands. As the tree began to collapse, the girls begged a great Hawk flying overhead to save them. The Hawk carried the girls across the river one by one, rescuing them from the spirits before the tree finally fell.
Other tales portray the Ma-Kishi as beings who lure or capture humans. One legend tells of a spirit called Di-kishi who encountered a young girl named Samba while she was alone near the fields. The spirit brought her into the world of the Ma-Kishi, where the other beings wished to eat her, though Di-kishi instead wanted to marry her. Later, Samba escaped with her children while the Ma-Kishi pursued her across the land.
The Ma-Kishi are frequently portrayed as powerful and dangerous beings connected to wilderness, isolation, and the unseen world. In Angolan folklore they appear as enemies, kidnappers, hunters, or supernatural tribes living beyond ordinary human society.
Sources
Chatelain, H. (1894). Folk-tales of Angola; fifty tales with Kimbundu text, liberal English translation, introduction, and notes. Boston: American Folk-lore Society.