Devious Folklore Characters Who Keep Unruly Children in Check
Frightful things might happen to munchkins who wander into the forest.
Scare the Kids Good
“They are no-necked monsters.” That's Maggie's opinion about children in Tennessee Williams's play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
There are plenty of people willing to agree with Maggie and to prescribe methods of socializing the little brats—one of the most popular being fear.
So, for centuries, people have invented grotesque phantoms to scare their children into acceptable behaviour.
Soap Sally
Soap Sally's gender seems to be fluid, to use a modern expression. She's usually portrayed as an old woman, but other stories cast her as an old man pretending to be a woman. She/he lives in the woods in Appalachia and is on the lookout for naughty children.
Misbehaving Children May Be Melted
When she locates a little terror, she grabs them in a vise-like grip and drags them off to her cottage. There, the hapless child would be put into a cauldron and melted into wax. She would then mold the wax into candles and soap in the shape of children's hands.
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Emma Cieslik noted this symbolized “the children’s idle, chore-shunning hands.”
Soap Sally would then sell the candles and soap “back to her victims’ families, who, in effect, ended up burning or doing the wash using their own children.”
Parents would warn their children about neglecting their chores: “You'd better finish cleaning the outhouse, Lucy Mae, or Soap Sally is gonna get ya.”
Black Annis
Sometimes known also as Black Agnes, this fiend was enlisted to control misbehaving children. She is said to have lived in a cave in central England and to have fearsome steel claws and blue skin.
She had predecessors in Celtic and Norse mythology, but the historian Ronald Hutton said Annis was modelled after a real person called Agnes Scott.
Flesh-Feasting Is Her Fetish
According to Hutton's account, Scott was a medieval nun who nursed lepers in a cave. Somehow, over the years, she morphed from being a pious and caring person into an evil ogre that feasted on the flesh of children.
Richard on Mythology Planet tells us,
"Black Annis is a ferocious witch who hunts at night for children to capture and sheep to eat. She is said to hang the carcasses of her prey outside the cave in which she lives in Leicestershire. You could often hear Black Annis before seeing her, and her haunting wails and screeches would echo from the hills throughout the area.”
And, we mustn't forget her razor-sharp and long, protruding teeth: “All the better to eat you with, my dear.”
Black Annis grabs a couple of no-necked monsters.
Wewe Gombel
Not all devious mythological characters are demented crones that kill children. In Indonesia, Wewe Gombel kidnaps children, but she does so to remove them from abusive families so she can nurture them.
If the parents admit to their child-rearing errors and show they have changed, Wewe Gombel returns the kids to their families.
Wewe Is More Woeful Than Wicked
She makes nests in palm trees and has long hair and long breasts that make her look scary. She is believed to have been a real woman who was unable to conceive, so her husband left her.
Distraught by being childless and abandoned, she took her own life and returned as a ghost so she could fulfill her maternal instincts.
Wewe Gombel.
Baba Jaga
Prominent in Slavic culture comes Baba Jaga who, depending on the source of the story, is either wise and helpful or deeply malevolent.
As with most of these folklore characters, Baba Jaga lives in a hut deep in a forest. However, her dwelling is unique in that it stands on chicken legs and can, therefore, move about.
This Crone Is Both Wicked and Wise
Her tale is employed to scare children into being obedient and sticking close to home.
Baba Jaga is, of course, depicted with the evil, hooked nose and menacing countenance of a witch. But her dark side has faded over time.
Here's writer Joshua Mark:
“She has come to embody the concept of feminine power and emancipation in the modern age. Books, films, and television shows reference her today in this role, and although she retains her menacing character, she is increasingly seen as a source of wisdom and power rather than a personification of evil.”
Non-Human Ghouls
- In Belgium, Oude Rode Ogen is a shapeshifter who appears mostly as a grumpy, very big, black dog but sometimes as a huge human bent on stealing children from their beds. Such is the power of these myths, that 300 years ago people claimed to have scared off a human version of Oude Rode Ogen near the town of Nekkerspoel. Angry citizens set upon a homeless Black man who they lynched.
- Kludde is another particularly unpleasant character from Belgium. Also doglike but with the added refinements of bat wings, green scales, and, of course, fearsome claws. He likes to drown his prey to teach the survivors about the need to do what their parents tell them.
- The story of Little Red Riding Hood comes to mind as tales of Grandmother Tiger unfold. She is a figure of Taiwanese mythology who performs the now-familiar task of keeping wayward children in line by eating them. A similar creature turns up in Africa under the name Motikatika.
- Spanish parents used El Cuco (sometimes El Coco) to encourage obedience in their children, particularly about going to bed at the appointed hour. He's a dinosaur-style monster with the requisite sharp claws and teeth needed to snack on naughty little guys.
- Similarly, Cuca lurks in the Brazilian rainforest, waiting to snatch up unruly kids. He's an alligator-like critter that is either an eater of children or a protector of them, depending on where they live.
There are hundreds of other folklore demons tasked with keeping children under control. Are they still needed today? Allow an octogenarian to answer that question: You're darned tooting they are still needed.
Bonus Factoids
- Many of these folklore characters serve a useful purpose. In Malta, Il-Belliegha lives in wells and is employed to keep children from leaning in too far to look at the water. Many lives have probably been saved.
- In Quebec, Bonhomme Sept-Heures begins his work of stealing children at seven o'clock. He has been given a pleasant name—Bonhomme means good man—so as not to anger him.
Related Article
- How Household Sprites Help Humans
Lucky people have wee folk living in their homes who work to bring peace, harmony, and cleanliness to the household.
Sources
- “Soap Sally, a Villain of Appalachia and the American South, Echoes Old World Evil.” Emma Cieslik, Atlas Obscura, October 30, 2023.
- “What Is the Black Annis in English Folklore?” Richard, mythologyplanet.com, January 1, 2023.
- “Joko Anwar's 'A Mother's Love' Humanizes Javanese Ghost, Criticizes Negligent Parents.” Dhania Sarahtika, Jakarta Globe, September 20, 2018.
- “Baba Jaga.” Joshua J. Mark, World History Encyclopedia, October 7, 2021.
- “Oude Rode Ogen.” Cryptid Wiki, undated.
- “Such Deep Roots You Have: How Little Red Riding Hood's Tale Evolved.” Alan Boyle, NBC News, November 13, 2013.
- “15 Mythical Creatures Who Used to Scare Children Around The World.” Hardik Dhamija, gobookmart.com, October 2022.
- “All the Different Folktales From Around the World Used to Scare Kids Throughout History.” Sarah Corey, itsblossom.com, October 28, 2019.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2023 Rupert Taylor
