The Chullachaki (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

, "one-footed", from ''chulla'' or ''ch'ulla'' = single, odd, unpaired, asymmetric, ''chaki'' = foot; spelling sometimes also used in Spanish)Gustavo Rodríguez. ''El chullachaki en la otra selva.'' Lima: QG editores, 2011. 48 pp. (Colección Sobrenatural del diario Correo, 2011) or Chullachaqui (

Hispanicized Hispanicization () refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is illustrated by spoken ...

spelling), also known as the Shapishico, is a mythical forest creature of the

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian Amazonian

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

Description

He is generally described as short and ugly, airies: The Myths, Legends, & Lore Skye Alexander, pg 202 with one leg shorter than the other and one foot either larger than the other,"The Legend of Chullachaqui"
The Iquitos Times pointed backward or in the form of a

hoof The hoof (: hooves) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits; the ruminants with ...

."The Penguin book of world folk tales", Milton Rugoff, page 604 He is said to persuade his victims to follow him deep into the jungle where even experienced trackers cannot find their way back. He does this by taking the form of a family member or a loved one long not seen, or disguising himself as a

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

animal. His uncanny ability to replicate others makes him impossible to tell apart, except for his mismatched feet. Others say that he appears in the shape of a very short man dressed in rags, waving his closed fists in the air looking for a fight. In this case, the

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

believe a man must accept his challenge and beat him until he uncovers all the richness he has hidden in the jungle. He who declines this challenge is cursed with the inability to hunt and with foul luck: family and friends turn into enemies, wives leave with other men, etc. Chullachaqui is said to have the ability to turn into any animal of the rainforest. He is a kind of forest spirit who guards the lands and the animals and punishes a man if he breaks a

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

or otherwise acts unwisely in the forest. According to a local legend, Chullachaqui is a member of an older species, one that lived there long before humans. Most of the time they remain quite uninterested in humans. They inhabit forest spots far from human habitation, where they supposedly have their own gardens and fields to tend. If a human being dwells too close to those gardens, they might attack and put a spell on the unlucky human. Sometimes a Chullachaqui might also steal a human child and raise it as its own, or lure humans into a trap for mating purposes. A human thus stolen by the Chullachaqui becomes one of them.

References

{{reflist Native American demons Shapeshifting Forest spirits Tutelary deities Quechua legendary creatures Peruvian folklore

Description

See also

References