In Zulu/Xhosa mythology, Tikoloshe, Tokoloshe, De'Avion or Hili is a dwarf-like water sprite. It is considered a mischievous and evilspirit that can become invisible by drinking water or swallowing a stone. Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others. At its least harmful, a tokoloshe can be used to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness or even the death of the victim. The creature might be banished by a pastor, who has the power to expel it from the area. It is also considered a part of superstition and is often used in a satirical manner as a reference to overcome.
Legend
The advent of the phantom Tokoloshe came about through indigenous Southern African folklore to explain why people inexplicably died while sleeping in their rondavels at night. Traditionally, these people slept on the floor on grass mats encircling a wood fire that kept them warm during sub-freezing cold winter nights on the highveld in the rarefied air. They never realized the fire was depleting the oxygen levels, leaving noxious carbon monoxide, which is heavier than pure air and sinks to the bottom. Eventually it was realized that anyone who happened to be sleeping in an elevated position escaped the deadly curse of Tokoloshe, which was described as a short man about hip high who randomly stole one's life in the night unless they were lifted to the height of their bed. "Some Zulu people are still superstitious when it comes to things like the supposedly fictional tokoloshe—a hairy creature created by a witch doctor to harm his enemies." According to legend, the only way to keep the Tokoloshe away at night is to put a few bricks beneath each leg of one's bed. However, this will not protect anything but the person whose bed it is along with the bed itself, as it may instead cause havoc not involving said people. They get their power from a hot poker thrust into the crown of the body during creation.
How and why one is created
A jealous person will approach an evil witch doctor, shaman or Sangoma to take vengeance on someone they have some issue with. They would have to promise the soul of a loved one but cannot choose who, the Tokoloshe chooses the soul it decides to take. The witch doctor first needs to locate a dead body to be possessed. They must pierce its eye sockets and brain with a hot iron rod, so that it cannot think for itself and obeys only its master. They then sprinkle a special powder and shrink its body. It is then let loose to terrorise its target. Weeks, months maybe years later, the Tokoloshe will take its payment of the soul of the clients loved one.
A Tokoloshe appears in every episode of the third series of the British TV showMad Dogs, although only one character can see it and it is left unclear as to whether it is real or a hallucination. At one point the characters are told that if you see a Tokoloshe, it means somebody will die.
Tokoloshe is the full name of Tok, the mascot for the English surfing and clothing company Saltrock.
The graveling creatures in Dead Like Me are influenced by these.
DJ and musician Steve "Toshk" Shelley got his stagename as a derivation of Tokoloshe
Several Tokoloshe appear in the dark fantasy novella "The Flame's Burden" by Australian author Matthew Karabache.
In her book "Taming the Tokolosh: Through Fear into Healing - A Trauma Survivor’s True Story", Mandy Bass recounts how she became a victim of violent crime when a drug-crazed African-American college athlete broke into her home and brutally assaulted her. In this book she shares details of the attack and her journey through healing – both for herself and the man who attacked her.
In Gene's Wolfe's "The Shadow of the Torturer," Severian is considered to be a tokoloshe by the zulu shaman, Isangoma, he encounters in aerial hut in the Botanic Gardens.
