The Hira is a mythical monster who occurs in epic and folklore tales of the

Songhai people The Songhai people (also Ayneha, Songhay or Sonrai)'' are an ethnolinguistic group in West Africa who speak the various Songhai languages. Their history and ''lingua franca'' is linked to the Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in ...

, particularly the

Bozo people The Bozo are a Mande peoples, Mande ethnic group located predominantly along the Niger River in Mali. The name ''Bozo'' is thought to derive from Bambara language, Bambara ''bo-so'' "straw house"; the people accept it as referring to the whole o ...

who traditionally lived from hunting and fishing along the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

. The main source are the tales collected by M. A. Dupuis Yakouba at the start of the twentieth century. The Hira is a legendary variety of buffalo known for incredible force and brutality. The Hira is the main opponent in one of the epic tales about the culture hero Moussa Gname (also Mousa-Gname, Mousa-Djinni, "Moses the Son of a Spirit"). A woman falls asleep under a tree and is impregnated by a spirit that dwells in the tree. The boy child is named for

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

because, like Moses, his father is not known. Moussa's spirit-father teaches him hunting magic, and when the Hira ravages the countryside, Moussa and his fiancee (courageous and trained in magic like he is) defeat the monster. A second Hira comes, and a diviner says that the monster can only be killed by a female elephant--who is disguised as the chief's girlfriend. She transforms and becomes a female Hira, falls asleep near a pond, and when the Hira comes to drink at the pond he begins licking her. She pulls four hairs from his tail and gives them to Moussa; the next day, all Moussa has to do is show the Hira his own hairs for the monster to lie down and be killed.

Bibliography

*Belcher, Stephen: ''Epic Traditions of Africa'' (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1999; ) *Belcher, Stephen: ''African Myths of Origin'' (New York: Penguin, 2005; ) *Dupuis Yakouba, M. A.: ''Les Gow ou Chasseurs du Niger, Legendes Songaï de la Région de Tomboctou'' (Paris: Leroux, 1911)

References

{{reflist Songhai mythology West African legendary creatures