Herensugue
Also called Herensuge, Erensuge.
The Basque serpent-demon, met with seven heads, or as a snake flying through the air, or as a dragon, depending on the work it has come to do.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Basque folklore
- Region
- Basque Country (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Child-Frighteners
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
The Basque serpent-demon, met with seven heads, or as a snake flying through the air, or as a dragon, depending on the work it has come to do.
- Snake is Snake is a broad serpent symbol of creation and guardianship; South American traditions name Snake a primordial earth-maker and giver of hunting arts.
why
The Basque serpent-demon, met with seven heads, or as a snake flying through the air, or as a dragon, depending on the work it has come to do.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
A being catalogued by its manifestations is being understood as a will that borrows shapes, which is a materially different kind of creature from one that has a body and is sometimes reported inaccurately.
- Flight
why
It appears as a deformed being with seven heads; or as an airborne serpent, which the sources liken outright to the Lithuanian Aitvaras; or as a dragon outright.
- Multi-headed speech
why
It appears as a deformed being with seven heads; or as an airborne serpent, which the sources liken outright to the Lithuanian Aitvaras; or as a dragon outright.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Hero meets
2 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Herensugue."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Herensugue."