Tikoloshe

In some tellings it is described as having a single buttock or otherwise malformed body, and it is closely associated with the water from which it is said to emerge.

Descriptions of the Tikoloshe vary between tellings, but it is consistently imagined as a short, hairy, dwarf-like creature, sometimes said to be invisible to adults unless summoned or unless a special charm is used, while remaining visible to children.

Traditional practice in some communities holds that raising a bed on bricks keeps the Tikoloshe from reaching sleepers during the night, a custom still referenced in parts of South Africa today.

The Tikoloshe is most often depicted as a creature raised and directed by a malevolent traditional healer or sorcerer, called upon to bring harm, sickness, nightmares, or death to an enemy, or sometimes kept for protection or to torment a household on the sorcerer's behalf.

Its attacks in folklore range from strangling or molesting sleepers at night to causing chronic illness or fear that is otherwise unexplained, and it is frequently blamed in folk belief for misfortunes that defy easy explanation.