Culture · Night Stories

Sasabonsam

Sasabonsam sits in the tops of the tall trees, in the odum and the onyina, with his legs hanging down.

The high forest — Kakum, Bia, Atewa.

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Sasabonsam

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Sasabonsam

Sasabonsam sits in the tops of the tall trees, in the odum and the onyina, with his legs hanging down.

He is a large thing, red-haired in most descriptions, with iron teeth. His legs are long and thin and end in hooks, and he keeps them dangling in the space below the canopy where nothing looks up. When a hunter passes beneath, the hooks close on him and he goes up into the branches and is not seen again.

He is said to be the enemy of the ordinary hunter and the ally of the bad priest — witches and malevolent sorcerers are said to deal with him, and he is sometimes counted the male counterpart or master of the mmoatia.

Old hunters would tell you which trees not to walk under. Some of them still will.

If you visit Ghana. The high forest — Kakum, Bia, Atewa.

Sasabonsam sits in the tops of the tall trees, in the odum and the onyina, with his legs hanging down.

He is a large thing, red-haired in most descriptions, with iron teeth. His legs are long and thin and end in hooks, and he keeps them dangling in the space below the canopy where nothing looks up. When a hunter passes beneath, the hooks close on him and he goes up into the branches and is not seen again.

He is said to be the enemy of the ordinary hunter and the ally of the bad priest — witches and malevolent sorcerers are said to deal with him, and he is sometimes counted the male counterpart or master of the mmoatia.

Old hunters would tell you which trees not to walk under. Some of them still will.