Tokoloshe

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• Southern Africa · Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho

  Tokoloshe

  utokoloshe (isiZulu) · uthikoloshe (isiXhosa) · thokolosi, tikoloshi (Sotho) · hili

  Spirits of place

  

  The Dictionary of South African English defines the tokoloshe as a mischievous and lascivious hairy water-sprite or goblin, and Slater (1931) wrote of such beings dwelling "in deep pools and among the reeds and rushes along the banks of flowing rivers". Kay (1833) described an invisible being, sometimes pictured as a little, ugly, malignant fellow able to do people much harm and to disturb their marriages. From Shaw (1860) on, sources record the belief that bad persons may "enter into league" with it.

  A living belief: the Dictionary of South African English's quotations run to a 1986 newspaper advertisement offering help with "tokoloshe problems". It is bound up with accusations against people said to be in league with it, which fall hard on the accused; the dictionary records a 1971 report of a crowd threatening to stone a woman said to be a tokoloshe. It is presented here as Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho tradition, not as a monster or a joke.

  Earliest written source: Missionary Stephen Kay, Travels and Researches (London, 1833), p. 339, writing of the Mpondo

  Dictionary of South African English, "tokoloshe, tikoloshe, n." (archived)

  Tradition · not evidence