Blog Posts, Drawings, and Doodles - Things I Put In My Husband's Lunch

Day 301: Sparkle pig

10/31/2014

Happy Halloween!

For our final monster, I give you the Norse boar monster, Gullinbursti. I was hoping that translated to something cool like "gut bursting pig," but it actually means "gold bristles." An apt name, though, considering this pig glows-in-the-dark. It can also run on water and fly through the air, all at speeds faster than a thoroughbred.

This boar was hand-forged by the dwarven brothers Brokkr and Eitri in response to a dare from Loki. Loki was all "You can't make anything as good as Sif's hair, or Odin's spear, or Freyr's ship...," and Brokkr sassed back "Yes we can, here's a sparkly pig!" Brokkr won.

gullinbursti

Gullin pig, gullin pig, doing whatever a gullin pig does. Can he swing from a web? Probably...

Day 300: Worse than Elmo

10/30/2014

This is the least-frightening malicious spirit I could find in Slavic mythology. (Most Slavic monsters involve either drowning or ominous portents.)

[text on note] Mavka: Restless ghosts of young women, who become wood nymphs and tickle men to death...

They are said to be the spiteful souls of girls who have died from unnatural causes. Apparently running scantily clad through the forest and playfully poking people out of existence counts as proper revenge for being murdered.

mavka

The Slavic equivalent of Scrib Sprites

Day 299: Soy un monstruo

10/29/2014

The Tōfu-Kozō monster was developed during Japan's Edo period as a humorous character for children's stories, modeled after earlier servant-style yōkai. There is also speculation that the creation of this monster somehow tied into marketing campaigns for tofu, which was gaining popularity as a food commodity.

[text on note] Tōfu-Kozō: a yōkai child carrying a plate of (possibly moldy) tofu...

In common lore, this was a shy, yet friendly, monster who simply loved eating tofu; however, some comedic children's books depict the Tōfu-Kozō as a prankster who tricks passersby into eating tofu that has gone bad. Either way, it is said that even the other yōkai consider this monster to be a weakling.

tofu-kozo

Tofu is not really a threatening food. Now maybe if he were carrying nattō...

Day 298: Underarm protection

10/28/2014

The Cikavac is a strange, yet helpful, monster from Serbia:
[text on note] Cikavac: a magical wish-granting bird, born from a black hen egg that has been carried under a woman's armpit for 40 days.

While trying to hatch a cikavac, the woman was to refrain from such activities as washing her face, cutting her nails, or praying.

Once born, this bird was supposed to be able to grant any wish including stealing food from its owner's neighbors, and it also granted its owner the power to talk with animals. I guess that makes up for the whole "40 days of not showering and having your arm go numb."

cikavac

Dr. Dolittle's origin story just got a whole lot weirder.

Day 297: Got salt?

10/27/2014

Today I am switching gears and bringing you a purely benevolent mythical beast from Norse mythology. Auðumbla, known as "the primeval cow," is an important but obscure monster: Her milk sustained and fed the elemental giant Ymir, from whom the Earth and Midgard were formed, and she also created Búri, the progenitor of Borr and Odin, by licking a salty ice-block.

audumbla

...gives new meaning to "cowlick hair"

Day 296: Cockamamie story

10/24/2014

The last monster for this week, the Basan, also hails from Japan (Japan has all the best monsters):
[text on note] Basan: A shy chicken that breathes harmless fire.

So these chickens are supposed to be pretty big, but the only somewhat monstrous thing they do is breathe a cold ghost flame that is completely safe to touch. You can hear them coming by the "basa, basa" sound of their wings, but they disappear if you try and look at them directly. Kind of cool. Very much not scary.

Basan

How do they know it breathes fire if the chicken can't be seen?

Day 295: Eques-tree-an

10/23/2014

Another amusing monster from Japan is the Uma-no-ashi:
[text on note] Uma-no-ashi: A tree with a horse's leg that kicks passers-by and then withdraws into the leaves to hide.

Uma-no-ashi

...because getting hit by a falling or swinging branch is just not weird enough for Japan

Day 294: Baka-neko

10/22/2014

Japan seriously had a fear of cats at one point in their history. They developed not one, but two separate cat monsters that really just boiled down to "we are disturbed by the things cats do naturally, so they must be scary."

One of these "monsters" was the Bakeneko:
[text on note] Bakeneko: Monstrous cats that can talk, stand on two legs, and bewitch humans, and who like to lick fish oil and dance with napkins on their heads... in other words, cats.

Bakeneko

Teh internetz are fulls of monstarz

Bonus Note #14

10/21/2014

I drew an extra note today because it was raining and my husband informed me that the Japanese Kasa-obake, or sentient hopping umbrella, is his favourite monster.

Kasa-obake

I don't want to be near that Nekomata when the umbrella decides to move...

Day 293: The touch, the feel of cotton

10/21/2014

Today's lame monster is the Japanese Ittan-momen:
[text on note] Ittan-momen: a flying piece of cotton that wraps itself around its victim's face... convenient during winter.

Okay, so these monsters are actually supposed to try and smother people at night, which can be pretty scary, I guess, but a possessed bolt of fabric is still low on the totem pole as far as monsters are concerned.

ittan-momen

I am so concerned. Can't you see how concerned I am? *So* concerned...