Mythical Creature from South Africa: Grootslang, the Great Snake
When looking for fantasy creature inspiration, I try to stay away from western mythology. They’ve been done to death. There are other places in the world besides Europe and the United State. For some reason, people tend to default to that. I just want to see something else.
Grootslang, great snake, lives in a cave in the Richtersveld area of South Africa. One source says, the snake has a red stone at the front of its head, also refereed to as an amulet or talisman. The illustrations I found of this creature don’t depict a red stone. But, this source came from a scholarly article.
I tried to find some more “official” stories about the Grootslang but that proved to be difficult. So, I searched the weeds of the internet and looked for any common elements to the story. If you have more information, comment below.
Pictures vary but it’s mostly depicted as a large snake with an elephant’s head. The story goes, gods who were new to creation made a mistake when they made the Grootslang. They made it too cunning, too strong and too smart. Gods split the Grootslang into two creatures to fix their mistake. This is how the snake and the elephant came into existence.
There seemed to be more than one Grootslang at the time. Story goes, the original escaped and went on to sire more creatures. I’m assuming more than one ran away as the story doesn’t mention it cross-breeding with another animal species. Maybe the Grootslang doesn’t need to mate to reproduce.
The monster settled into its home known as the Bottomless Pit. It’s cave is supposedly filled with diamonds. Apparently, the Grootslang is part cannibal. Despite being half-elephant, this monster likes to lure elephants into its cave to feast on them. The Grootslang is said to be cruel but you can use gems as bargaining tools if you’re unfortunate enough to cross it’s path.
Sources
–Lombard, Jean. “Waterslangverhale in Afrikaans: die relevansie van mitisiteit.” Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies, vol. 25, no. 1, 2004, p. 113+. Gale Academic OneFile
—Mental Floss: 11 Legendary Monsters of Africa
–The Confessional Podcast: Creature Feature Friday: Grootslang
