Bestiary books, not really. Tell us if you find them. I'll be most interested.
Are you after any non-human creatures, or just non-existing creatures, though? It's not clear to me whether things like Japanese foxes count for you, or whether the creature has to be non-real, like a unicorn.
If you're OK with actual animals, then, for example, 'Maori Bird Lore' isn't bad on this front (by Murdoch Riley). It's not looking just at the roles of the native birds (New Zealand has native frogs, arthropods, molluscs, lizards, birds, and bats, but no other native land animals) in stories, but also in other types of folk lore, but it definitely gives their roles in stories, and they're frequently not Fantail and Kereru but are rather 'a fantail' and 'a kereru'.
Stuart Gordon: An Encyclopedia of Mythology. This might have some starting places for you, at least. Here are a bunch of quotes to give you some idea. There's very little detail, unlike the Maori birds book, but it's got some entries that suggest places to start digging for more info. (Stuff in quotes is quotes from this book. The rest is mine.) 'the Masai say the souls of the dead may reincarnate in certain snakes, which must not be killed.' p12 'the angatch of Madagascar' -- a evil spirit p12 'in some trees, like the Kenyan baobab, whole families of spirits are thought to live' p12 'Spirits also inhabit asuman, talismen of beads or horn' p12 'The Hottentots of the southern deserts speak of odd man-eating monsters, the Aiamuxa, who with eyes on their instep have to get down on hands and knees and hold up one foot to see.' p12 'Sacred pythons were fed on milk in a special temple.' by the Bunyoro of Uganda p75 Copper Woman was lonely, 'But one day several magic women came and taught her how to improve her life.' (I have no idea what 'magic women' are, but they seem to be a particular type of spirit in Native American culture of the Pacific Northwest from this story. p104 'The Tupi believed in many spirits and demons: Yurupari, haunting empty houses, burial sites, and the Amazon jungle; Kurupira, a jungle imp who protected game but disliked men; the man-killing Igpupiara; the Apoiaueue who brought rain when it was needed and who like angels told God what happens on earth.' South American, p437.
I did think of some of the Australian stuff I've read, but all the Dreamtime stories have named animals acting as representatives of their species. The other ones are just kinda freaky. I've never quite gotten over the story about the old-woman-demon who steals the girls to make bread.
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Date: 23 Feb 2011 09:24 am (UTC)Are you after any non-human creatures, or just non-existing creatures, though? It's not clear to me whether things like Japanese foxes count for you, or whether the creature has to be non-real, like a unicorn.
If you're OK with actual animals, then, for example, 'Maori Bird Lore' isn't bad on this front (by Murdoch Riley). It's not looking just at the roles of the native birds (New Zealand has native frogs, arthropods, molluscs, lizards, birds, and bats, but no other native land animals) in stories, but also in other types of folk lore, but it definitely gives their roles in stories, and they're frequently not Fantail and Kereru but are rather 'a fantail' and 'a kereru'.
Stuart Gordon: An Encyclopedia of Mythology. This might have some starting places for you, at least.
Here are a bunch of quotes to give you some idea. There's very little detail, unlike the Maori birds book, but it's got some entries that suggest places to start digging for more info. (Stuff in quotes is quotes from this book. The rest is mine.)
'the Masai say the souls of the dead may reincarnate in certain snakes, which must not be killed.' p12
'the angatch of Madagascar' -- a evil spirit p12
'in some trees, like the Kenyan baobab, whole families of spirits are thought to live' p12
'Spirits also inhabit asuman, talismen of beads or horn' p12
'The Hottentots of the southern deserts speak of odd man-eating monsters, the Aiamuxa, who with eyes on their instep have to get down on hands and knees and hold up one foot to see.' p12
'Sacred pythons were fed on milk in a special temple.' by the Bunyoro of Uganda p75
Copper Woman was lonely, 'But one day several magic women came and taught her how to improve her life.' (I have no idea what 'magic women' are, but they seem to be a particular type of spirit in Native American culture of the Pacific Northwest from this story. p104
'The Tupi believed in many spirits and demons: Yurupari, haunting empty houses, burial sites, and the Amazon jungle; Kurupira, a jungle imp who protected game but disliked men; the man-killing Igpupiara; the Apoiaueue who brought rain when it was needed and who like angels told God what happens on earth.' South American, p437.
I did think of some of the Australian stuff I've read, but all the Dreamtime stories have named animals acting as representatives of their species. The other ones are just kinda freaky. I've never quite gotten over the story about the old-woman-demon who steals the girls to make bread.