Cow

Tranez

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Tradition: Roman Mythology, Italian Mythology, Indian Mythology, Chinese Mythology
Alternative names: Tranez
Category: Cow

The Myth

The Tranez is a small but extraordinarily brave creature, about the size of a hare. Despite its diminutive stature, it possesses remarkable strength and fearlessness.

The Tranez has striking red fur and a natural helmet-like covering on its head. This hard covering protects it from bites, blows, and other dangers in the wild.

The creature was said to inhabit the Orient, referring to the distant lands of the East, including regions extending from India toward China. These lands were traditionally imagined as remote and wondrous places filled with unfamiliar animals, plants, and other marvels.

The Tranez’s small body but exceptional courage was regarded as an example of the Creator’s careful design, demonstrating that every creature was given qualities suited to its particular way of life.

Sources

Van Maerlant, J. (2024). Der Naturen Bloeme (I. Biesheuvel, Trans.), p.74.

Toro Encantado

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Tradition: Guatemala Mythology
Alternative names: Enchanted Bull
Category: Cow

The Myth

Toro Encantado is an enchanted bull made entirely of pure gold, once revered by the Kekchi people of Alta Verapaz. The bull was worshipped as a sacred being and honored through festivals, flowers, incense, dancing, and music.

The golden bull was associated with Sactzicuil, a hill in Alta Verapaz. The Kekchi held festivals in its honor and treated the place where it lived as sacred. At appointed times, the people gathered to decorate its home with flowers, fan it with the fragrant smoke of burning copal, and dance around it accompanied by music.

Eventually, the enchanted bull sank down into the hill and disappeared.

After its disappearance, a powerful Kekchi wizard ordered half of the women of the tribe to wear the tupuy as a reminder of the bull’s tail, while the other half were instructed to cut their hair in a particular manner to commemorate its ears.

According to the tradition, this custom continued among the women of the tribe. Some would smooth their hair down to the nape of the neck and wind it repeatedly with a red wool cord until it became thick and long like a bull’s tail. Others would cut a lock of hair on each side of the forehead, allowing the locks to hang down like the bull’s large ears.

Sources

G. B. G. “Guatemala Myths.” The Museum Journal 6, no. 3 (September 1915): 103–115. Accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/416/

Torapee and Torapa

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Tradition: Thai mythology
Alternative names: Torapee, Torapa
Category: Cow

The Myth

Torapa was originally a giant who was tasked with guarding the gates of Lord Shiva’s palace. After disobeying his master, he angered Shiva and was cursed to be reborn as a giant buffalo named Torapa.

Torapa was destined to be killed by his own son, Torapee. From the time he was young, Torapee would compare the size of his hoofprints with those of his father. He knew that when his own hoofprints became equal in size to his father’s, he would be strong enough to challenge and kill him.

Eventually, the day came when Torapee’s hoofprints were approximately the same size as Torapa’s. Torapee then challenged his father and killed him, fulfilling the curse.

The name Torapee subsequently became associated with an ungrateful child in Thai proverbial speech, referring to someone who repays their parents with hostility rather than gratitude.

Sources

“The Mythical Creatures in Thailand.” Explore Bangkok. Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.explore-bangkok.com/mythical-creatures-in-thailand/

Toralindo

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Tradition: Indonesian Mythology
Alternative names: Toralindo
Category: Cow

The Myth

Toralindo is a gigantic buffalo from the mythology of the Torajan people of Sulawesi. It is believed to support the Earth upon its horns, and its movements are associated with earthquakes.

Toralindo is an enormous buffalo capable of carrying the Earth on its horns. Its movements can cause the ground to shake, and its reactions to sounds or animals can influence the stability of the Earth.

According to Torajan tradition, the Earth is flat and is supported by the giant buffalo Toralindo. When Toralindo is bitten by a fly, it shakes its head to drive the insect away, causing an earthquake.

Different villages have different ways of trying to stop Toralindo from shaking its head. Some people begin to meow loudly, because buffaloes are believed to be afraid of cats. When Toralindo hears the meowing, it forgets about the fly and stops shaking its head.

Other people imitate a pig being struck with a stick, believing that the resulting squealing will distract Toralindo and prevent it from continuing to shake its head.

Sources

“Toralindo.” New Bestiary (Bestiary.us). Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.bestiary.us/toralindo

Tonzo

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Tradition: Japanese mythology
Alternative names: –
Category: Cow

The Myth

Tonzo is a mysterious yokai from Iwaizumi in Iwate Prefecture. It is described as a pitch-black, bull-like flying monster with enough supernatural strength to shake the ground and destroy trees.

One evening, an experienced hunter named Sahei-dono went hunting in Miyanosawa. For some reason, no deer appeared that night. As dawn approached, he was preparing to leave when a pitch-black creature resembling a bull suddenly jumped out before him.

The creature spoke in a human voice and declared that it was Tonzo, challenging Sahei to strike it and threatening to crush him if he did. Sahei had his hand on the knife at his waist, but he was so frightened that he fled.

Some time later, Sahei went to Yokonaga-mine. Near a chestnut tree, Tonzo appeared again. The ground trembled as the creature leaped onto the tree. It shook the tree violently and snapped its branches.

Tonzo then reminded Sahei of their previous encounter and threatened to seize and kill him if he returned. Terrified, Sahei begged for forgiveness and fled.

About ten days later, Sahei fell ill and died.

The true nature of Tonzo is unknown. The only description preserved in the tradition is that it was a flying monster resembling a bull.

Sources

Takahashi, Toshihiro. “トンゾウ (Tonzo).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). December 3, 2011. https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010654094.html

Tilla And Šerišu

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Tradition: Hurrian mythology, Syrian Mythology
Alternative names: Tilla, Šerišu; dtil-la, gudti-el-la
Category: Cow, Deity

The Myth

Tilla was a Hurrian god who was associated with the form of a bull. He is best known from texts discovered at Nuzi and was worshipped particularly in the kingdom of Arrapha in northern Mesopotamia. His principal cult center was Ulamme, where he appears to have been the chief deity.

The clearest description of Tilla as a bull occurs in the Song of Ullikummi, part of the mythological cycle surrounding the god Kumarbi. Tilla was one of two divine bulls who pulled the chariot of Teshub, the Hurrian weather god. The other was Šerišu. Before Teshub went into battle against Ullikummi, a gigantic stone being, Teshub ordered that Tilla’s tail be covered with gold.

Tilla and Šerišu were therefore not ordinary cattle, but powerful divine bulls belonging to the entourage of Teshub. Their presence reflects the important connection between bulls and weather gods found throughout the ancient Near East, although the precise origins of this association remain uncertain.

Tilla’s relationship with Teshub may, however, have developed over time. Texts from Nuzi sometimes treat Tilla as an independent deity rather than simply as Teshub’s divine draft animal. Other sources also pair Šerišu with a different bull deity, Hurriš. Scholars have consequently suggested that Tilla, Šerišu, Hurriš and Šarruma belonged to a broader group of bull deities connected with Teshub.

Tilla was widely worshipped in Arrapha and was particularly prominent at Nuzi. He appears frequently in Hurrian theophoric names, including names expressing ideas such as “Tilla helps,” “Tilla frees,” and “Tilla is reliable.” An entu priestess associated with his cult is also attested.

The surviving evidence therefore presents Tilla as a powerful divine bull whose importance extended beyond his role as one of Teshub’s chariot animals. His cult, personal names and association with the weather-god tradition show that the bull could represent an important manifestation of divine power in Hurrian religion.

Sources

Vonbun, Franz Josef. “Die schwarze Kuh.” In Die Sagen Vorarlbergs. Mit Beiträgen aus Liechtenstein, no. 183, p. 141. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. Accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/vorarlberg/montavon/schwarzekuh.html

Tarbh Uirge

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Tradition: Scottish Mythology
Alternative names: Tarbh Uirge
Category: Cow

The Myth

The Tarbh Uirge was a supernatural creature associated with small, lonely moorland lochs. Unlike the Water-horse, it was considered harmless and did not harm people who approached its haunts.

The creature normally remained in the lochs and emerged only at night. It could sometimes be heard lowing near the water before wandering among farmers’ cattle, although it was rarely seen.

Its presence was believed to explain a particular kind of unusual calf. Calves with abnormally short ears, as though the upper part had been cut away with a knife, were said to be the offspring of the Tarbh Uirge. Since the Tarbh Uirge itself was believed to have no ears, its calves supposedly inherited only half-sized ears. In Gaelic these calves were called Carc-chluasach, meaning “knife-eared.”

One account from the district of Lorn tells of a dairymaid and a herdsman who were preparing to leave a cattle fold in the evening. They suddenly saw a small, ugly, extremely black animal moving among the cattle. It had the shape of a bull, but its body was described as soft and slippery and its bellow was unnatural, sounding somewhat like the crowing of a cock.

Terrified, the two fled from the fold. When they returned the following morning, however, they found the cattle lying peacefully inside as though nothing unusual had happened.

The Tarbh Uirge was therefore a strange but essentially harmless creature of the Scottish lochs, associated particularly with nighttime appearances, unusual cattle, and an eerie supernatural bellow.

Sources

Campbell, John Gregorson. Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland: Collected Entirely from Oral Sources. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1900.

Schwarze Kuh

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Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative names: The Black Cow
Category: Cow

The Myth

One evening, a shepherd from Montavon arrived late at the Latonz Alp to retrieve a black cow that had been left behind when the herd descended from the mountain. He put the cow in the stable and spent the night sleeping on a bunk in the alpine hut.

Around midnight, the alpine spirits, known as Bütze, entered the hut. They began cooking, boiling, and roasting in the room with an incredible din. The shepherd awoke and stared at them in confusion.

Suddenly, one of the spirits called to him to come down from his bunk. He was forced to leave his sleeping place and join them.

Then he noticed something horrifying. His black cow, standing outside in the stable, appeared to have an enormous hole in its body. The shepherd thought that the spirits had cut the flesh out of his cow and feared that they would have eaten the entire animal before dawn.

After their meal, the Bütze began playing music and dancing so violently that the alpine hut seemed almost to come apart. At the first light of dawn, the strange visitors departed.

The shepherd watched them leave and noticed a hide stretched across the doorway of the alpine hut. He believed that it was the hide of his black cow.

But when daylight had fully arrived, the hide had mysteriously disappeared. Outside, the black cow stood in the stable completely unharmed.

The terrifying events of the night had apparently been an illusion—or something supernatural that had left no lasting mark on the cow.

Sources

Vonbun, Franz Josef. “Die schwarze Kuh.” In Die Sagen Vorarlbergs. Mit Beiträgen aus Liechtenstein, no. 183, p. 141. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. Accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/vorarlberg/montavon/schwarzekuh.html

Svetna Krava

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Tradition: Slovenian Mythology
Alternative names: Svetna Krava, World-Supporting Bull
Category: Cow

The Myth

In Slovenian folk tradition, there is a saying that the world stands upon a bull. The belief was recorded in the nineteenth century by Davorin Trstenjak and published in Slovenski Glasnik in 1860. The tradition was presented as a surviving fragment of an older Slavic cosmogony.

According to the belief, the entire world rests upon the bull. Whenever the bull twitches its ear, the whole world shakes.

A closely related version was recorded among the Serbs by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić in his Serbian Dictionary of 1852. In this version, some people said that the world stood upon water, while others jokingly said that the world stood upon the bull, and that when the bull moved its ear, the world shook.

The tradition therefore places the bull in a cosmic role as the foundation supporting the entire world. The source also connects this conception with broader Indo-European traditions in which animals such as bulls, horses, cows, fish, snakes, whales, and turtles function as beings supporting or participating in the creation or structure of the cosmos.

The bull’s importance is particularly significant in the discussion of Slavic tradition because cattle were economically important to many Slavic peoples. The source also notes another South Slavic motif in which supernatural opponents transform into a black bull and a red bull, representing opposing forces such as good and evil or rival communities.

The exact ancient Slavic cosmology behind the belief is uncertain, but the Slovenian and Serbian records provide evidence that the image of a bull supporting the world survived in South Slavic folk tradition.

Sources

Kropej, Monika. Supernatural Beings from Slovenian Myth and Folktales. Ljubljana: Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2012.

Stiertratte

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Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative names: –
Category: Cow

The Myth

In the Glödnitz Valley, near the place known as the “Bauer im Ort,” there is a location called the Stiertratte.

According to the legend, a group of arrogant miners once committed a cruel act against a living bull. They skinned the animal alive and drove it to Weitensfeld for people to see. They then spread the bull’s hide out at the location of the Stiertratte and played dice upon it.

As an eternal disgrace and punishment for their arrogance and cruelty, not a single blade of grass has grown at the place ever since.

The story therefore explains the existence of the barren patch of land known as the Stiertratte as a supernatural punishment for the miners’ mistreatment of the bull.

Sources

Rappold, J. “Die Stiertratte.” In Sagen aus Kärnten. Augsburg and Leipzig, 1887, no. 17, p. 23. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. Accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/kaernten/allgemein/stiertratte.html