To a true Harry Potter fan

[Bungo]

This is a grindylow ( if you are a true Harry Potter fan)...........

 

strange how different cultures come up with something so similar.

 

Grindylow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

A grindylow is a mythological creature that originated from folktales in the English county of Yorkshire.

 

Grindylows are a sort of "bogeyman" used as a ploy to keep children from getting in the cold water in the area. They were to grab little children with their long arms and fingers and devour them if they came close to the edge of pools, marshes, or ponds. Peg Powler and Jenny Greenteeth are similar water spirits.[1]

 

In the Harry Potter universe, grindylows live at the bottom of the Hogwarts lake and coexist, and indeed are domesticated by, its resident merpeople. They have green skin and teeth, and small horns. The film portrays them as squid-like creatures.

 

A somewhat more unfriendly race called grindylows appears in The Scar by China Miéville.

 

Japanese Hanging Scroll :"KAPPA (Water Imp)" @k291

*Kappa (Water imp) :

Kappa are legendary creatures; a type of water imp found in Japanese folklore. However they are also considered to be a part of cryptozoology, due to apparent sightings. In Shintoism they are considered to be one of many suijin (Gods of Water).

Most depictions show kappa as child-sized humanoids, though their bodies are often more like those of monkeys or frogs than human beings. Some descriptions say their faces are apelike, while others show them with beaked visages more like those of tortoises or with duck beaks. Pictures usually show kappa with thick shells and scaly skin that ranges in color from green to yellow or blue.

Kappa inhabit the ponds and rivers of Japan and have various features to aid them in this environment, such as webbed hands and feet. They are sometimes even said to smell like fish, and they can certainly swim like them. The expression kappa-no-kawa-nagare ("a kappa drowning in a river") conveys the idea that even experts make mistakes.

The most notable feature of the kappa, however, is the water-filled depressions atop their heads. These cavities are surrounded by scraggly hair, and this type of bobbed hair style is named okappa-atama for the creatures. The kappa derive their incredible strength from these liquid-filled holes, and anyone confronted with one may exploit this weakness by simply getting the kappa to spill the water from its head. The kappa possesses a deep sense of etiquette, so one trusted method is to appeal to this, for a kappa cannot help but return a deep bow, even if it means losing its head-water in the process. Once depleted, the kappa is seriously weakened and may even die. Other tales say that this water allows kappa to move about on land, and once emptied, the creatures are immobilized. Stubborn children are encouraged to follow the custom of bowing on the grounds that it is a defense against kappa

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Yo Milt,

 

It's also funny how legends persist.

 

Where I live there is a fairly big park where most of my neighbours went for this years cherry-blossom viewing.

 

One of these neighbours (whose family has lived in the area for generations) told me, quite seriously, that "the park has no water now but, in the Meiji period, it had a large pond that was infested with Kappa"!

 

Pulling the local gaijin's leg perhaps....who knows?

 

Simon

[Nobody]

This might be only for display.