The mmoatia are small — a foot or two tall — and they live in the deep bush and they are not benign.
Sacred groves; anywhere the forest is old.
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Mmoatia
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Mmoatia
The mmoatia are small — a foot or two tall — and they live in the deep bush and they are not benign.
Their feet point backwards. This is the detail everyone gives first, and its purpose is obvious: follow their tracks and you go the wrong way. They speak by whistling. They are said to come in three kinds, black, red and white, and the black ones are the least dangerous.
They know every plant in the forest, and this is why priests and herbalists want to deal with them. A healer who has learned from the mmoatia has knowledge that cannot be got from a book, and traditional practitioners will tell you, quite matter-of-factly, that they were taught in the bush and by whom.
They steal palm wine. They take children who wander. They have to be paid.
And it was a mmoatia that Ananse caught with a sticky doll in story 12, which is the tradition's own way of telling you these are the oldest beings in the forest and the hardest to reach.
If you visit Ghana. Sacred groves; anywhere the forest is old.
The mmoatia are small — a foot or two tall — and they live in the deep bush and they are not benign.
Their feet point backwards. This is the detail everyone gives first, and its purpose is obvious: follow their tracks and you go the wrong way. They speak by whistling. They are said to come in three kinds, black, red and white, and the black ones are the least dangerous.
They know every plant in the forest, and this is why priests and herbalists want to deal with them. A healer who has learned from the mmoatia has knowledge that cannot be got from a book, and traditional practitioners will tell you, quite matter-of-factly, that they were taught in the bush and by whom.
They steal palm wine. They take children who wander. They have to be paid.
And it was a mmoatia that Ananse caught with a sticky doll in story 12, which is the tradition's own way of telling you these are the oldest beings in the forest and the hardest to reach.