Nissaba/Nisaba [Sum-Bab] Grain and harvest goddess, also in charge of writing and education. It is said that her breasts feed the fields and her body gives birth to the crops.
*Nisser/Nisse (sing.)/gardvord/god bonde/fjøsnisse/gårdsrå [Scnd/Dnsh/Swd/Norw] Helpful pixie-ish creatures who assist farmers in the smooth operations of their farms. These fairies appear as small old men, usually dressed as farmers but with a distinctive tall, red, tassled cap. They have usually been depicted as wearing long white beards, but in modern times, it seems that some nisse have been shaving their beards off. They may also have pointed ears, which is a common characteristic for many fairies and other similar little creatures. Nisse are are strong and stalwart, and happily can dispose of any chores, but they are temperamental and desire recognition, thanks, and a bowl of porridge on Christmas eve. If they are not propitiated (like so many house spirits around the world) they can become mischievous and damage property, injure farm workers, or kill livestock. Nisser were thought to be able to turn invisible and change their shape, so few people ever see them, although small children may be able to. The red cap, the invisibility, and their capacity for mischief does remind a person of the Brazilian Saci more than a bit. Like saci, the Christian thinkers challenged these critters as being minions of the devil. It is this author’s understanding that their lot in life is a bit difficult, which is to say “It’s hard to be a nissemand.”
Niu-kua [China] see Nu Kwa
Niulang [China] ‘Cowherd.’ The love story of Zhinü and Niulang is one of those tragic romances that the East Asians excel at. Niulang was a cowherd (some tales make him a mortal, some make him a god) who happened upon seven beautiful young goddesses bathing in a lake. Full of mischief, he stole their clothes, and they sent the youngest sister, Zhinü, to get their clothing back. As he had seen her naked, she assented to be his bride.
Their marriage was idyllic, but the downside was that they were so happy that they began to neglect their godly duties. Some versions say that her queenly mom would not assent to her young daughter marrying a mere mortal. Whatever the case, the gods stuck them on opposite sides of a mighty river. One day per year, the feast of Qi Xi, the magpie birds build a bridge so that the lovers can come together.
Nivhevoss [Chy] ‘Eagle’s Nest.’ The childhood name for Sweet Medicine.
*Nixies/Nixe [Teut-Ger] Water spirits or sprites.
Njördr/Niord/Njord [Nrse] Handsome sea and wealth god, he was one of the Vanir. Father of Freya and Frey. Njordr married the ice-giantess Skadi and together, they personify the seasons. Their undersea hall was called Nöatûn. He and Skadi did not work out, since he did not care for her wolves and she did not like his sea-birds with their raucous cries. They split up after a time and he was wed to the goddess Nerthus.
Njorfe [Nrse] Foe and then ally of Viking and Halfdan.
Nnamdi [Afr] Youngest son of Alike and Ilomerika.
Noah [Jw] Yahweh decided to send a huge flood which would kill everyone in the world and wash away their wickedness. He decided to spare this man and his family, so he ordered Noah to construct a gigantic boat, where two of every animal in creation, plus Noah and his family, would stay during the flood. His sons were Shem, Ham, and Japeth. The great ark in which they and the animals were safe from the flood waters floated for forty days and nights, and came to rest on Mount Ararat. Unlike many earlier flood stories, this one kills off all of humanity, while the Greek and Sumerian versions usually just wipe out a small corner of the world. Page 362 Encyclopedia of Beings After the flood, Noah got drunk in his tent and two of his sons wandered in and saw him naked. They were cursed for this. Some feel that this was the first case of drunkenness in the world. Some believe that this story indicates that the sons castrated old Noah, which I don’t see, but then I’m not those scholars, am I? According to one story, Noah wanted a third son, but Ham’s son Canaan got him drunk and castrated him. Some scholars suggest that the middle syllables of the name Utnapishtim [na’ish] may have been a phonetic equivalent to the name Noah FLOOD STORIES Many cultures throughout the world have had stories of a great flood that killed much of humanity. From the Sumerian tales of Ziusudra/Utnapishtim or Atrahasis, the Norse story of Bergelmir and the North American Navaho story of Tieholtsodi and Coyote. The Greeks had a flood survivor named Deucalion, who was adrift in a box and the South American peoples had a god named Ni or Hurican who flooded the world for the transgressions of human. The Aztec flood survivor was named Coxcox. In the Philippines, it is believed that a woman called Bugan was the mother of humanity after a great flood wiped out most of the humans. According to a Hindu tale, Matsya, an avatar of Vishnu saved the great lawgiver named Manu from a great flood.
Noanase [KW] Child of the great mother, Serankua, given great powers. Used his powers to steal strength from his elder brother, Mulkiasi. His mom locked him away and he awaits the time he can break free to wreak disaster on the world.
*Nochnitsas [Slav] ‘Night Women.’ Spirits who are constantly at odds with the dawn spirits called zors.
Nodens [Celt] Medicinal goddess who was analogous to Nuadu, god of healing.
Nodotus [Rom] Numin of plant buds. Probably related closely to Proserpina.
*Noegyth/Nogoth/Nogothrim (sing.) [JRRT] see dwarves
Nohochacyum [May] ‘Our Great Lord.’ see Hachacyum
Nohuichana [Mex] Goddess of the hunt.
*Nokken [Scnd] A type of water imp that enjoyed causing misfortune to sailors. It was sort of a gremlin, ruining sails, breaking lines, fouling drinking water, and so forth, but it could be even more malicious, helping to cause the injuries and deaths of mariners.
Nommo [Dog] Water spirit, often associated with Amma. Parent figure deity.
Nona [Rom] One of the numina. She watched over the last months of a baby’s gestation.
Nonadieve [Lith] A domestic goddess mentioned in the Thirteenth Century Voluine Chronicle
Nonin [Budd] (?-1196? CE) Studied Tendai Buddhism but did not get much from it, so he declared himself self-enlightened. He founded a highly unorthodox Zen sect called Nihon Daruma which was popular with the common folk, but not with the establishment. He was killed under questionable circumstances, likely by his own nephew.
Nono [SA] Mistress of snakes, the devourer of souls. A tribal goddess.
Nordri [Nrse] Dwarf who held up the Northern end of the celestial sphere.
Nornagesta [Nrse] A bard. He was cursed at birth by Skuld to only live until a certain candle burned down. When someone put out the candle, he was thus imbued with perpetual life and youth (well, THAT was pretty simple!). At 300 years of age, Olaf Tryggvesson forced him Encyclopedia of Beings Page 363 to convert to Christianity, and as a sign of his sincerity he had to burn the candle. When the candle burned down, he died.
*Norns [Nrse] Triple goddess figure representing past/present/future: Urd, who was old, Skuld who was middle-aged, and Verdandi who was young. They watered the world-tree Yggdrasil daily and wove huge webs of great size and haphazard design. In some ways, the three represented the past, present and future. They were called Wyrdes by Celts. See the entry on Morrigán for more information about triple goddess figures.
Norov-Ava [Mord] Goddess of grain.
Nortia [Etr] The parallel to the Roman Fortuna.
Notus [Gk] The south wind.
Norvi/Narvi [Nrse] Giantess, the mother of Night.
Nosenga [Krkr] Tribal god who is the son of the sky god Chikara. Hehas a number of human priestesses who are his brides, devoted solely to him (this arrangement has been compared to the nuns of the Christian church). He is contacted through a human intermediary known as Hore, by express permission of the tribal chief.
*Nosferatu/Norferat [Rmnn] The word means ‘Plague Carrier’ in Old Slavonic. This sort of cursed person spreads disease and disaster, feeds on its family and makes men impotent and women sterile (they are said to despise married couples, probably because of their hatred of fertility). Nosferatu seem to have plagued people over long periods, slowly destroying them or sapping their vitality. These creatures are vampiric, although not necessarily undead. These are supposedly the vampires that inspired the popular Dracula stereotypes so beloved in TV shows and movies. WHAT CREATES A NOSFERATU There were many things that could cause a nosferatu: the illegitimate sons of two illegitimate parents or the child of a mother who had not eaten salt during her pregnancy. Also, if the mother had been looked at by a vampire while pregnant, the child could turn out to be one of these monsters. Addi- tionally, the seventh son of a seventh son was thought to be at risk for becoming a nosferatu.
Nott [Nrse] Goddess of the night, daughter of the giant Norvi. Mother of Aud by Naglfari, Erda by Annar and Dag by Dellinger.
Notus [Rom] The southwest wind, son of Aeolus, although some sources attribute that wind to a being called Africus.
Nourie [Celt] A divinity which was worshipped in the area of Loch Maree at one time.
Nu [Egy] see Nun
Nuada/Nuadu/Nuadha {Argetlam} – ‘Silver Hand’; {of the Silver Hand} [Irsh] Father and king of the Tuatha dé Danann, analogous to Nodens. Various tales have him as being married to various war goddesses––sometimes Nemain, Fea, or Macha, and other tales say Badb Catha or Morrigu. Since these formidable ladies were all pretty much aspects of each other, it is pretty easy to see how confusion could come about. Whatever the case, he was a war deity and a great king who stepped down because he lost an arm (the rules said that you could not be an king of the Tuatha dé Danann if you were maimed in any way) fighting against Fir Bolgs. After his wicked and boorish successor, Bres, stepped down from the throne, Nuada had a silver arm made by Diancecht and Credne which functioned exactly like the real thing. He then ascended to the throne again. Eventually, Nuada stepped down and gave the king- ship over to Lugh. Page 364 Encyclopedia of Beings Nudd [Art] Master of Hell and father of Gwynn.
Nudimmud [Sum] An alternate name for Ea.
*Nue [Jpn] A monster-spirit with the head of a monkey, body of a badger, legs of a tiger, and a snake for a tail. Not a friendly sort of spirit, something you’d probably want to avoid.
Nuliajuk [Inu] see Sedna
*Numejas [Lith] Domestic goddesses. I think this may be related to the Roman numina, some- where along the line.
Numitor [Rom] Brother of Annulius, who took the throne of Alba over from him.
Nu Kwa [China] see Nüwa
Nun/Nu [Egy] Primordial chaos god. He is one of the Eight Deities of Khemenu, paired with the watery chaos goddess Naunet. He is usually shown as a bearded man, standing in water to his waist, often carrying the solar barque or the disc of the sun. He sometimes has the head of a frog, and is occasionally shown as a baboon, greeting the rising sun.
Nunbarshegunu [Sum] Mother of Ninlil.
*Nunnehi [Cher] (pron.: NUN-ay-hee) Faerie-like creatures which were friends and allies to hu- mans. Their tears turned into crystals.
Nunundere/Nurunderi [Aust] One of the many names for the great ancestor figure who came from the sky, or in some stories, from the sea. He gave laws and rules to the tribes, tools, names for animals and he taught the mysteries of initiation. After that, he returned from where he had come from. Other names for him included Biral, Baiame, Goin and Bundjil.
Nunuso’mikeeqone’im [BC] A cannibal woman who could turn into a mosquito. She was the mother of Alk’unta’m.
Nurpu Khonday Pung-jun [Nep] A very ancient Buddhist mountain god. He was thrown down by Drutob Senge Yeshe and became a protector of the dharma.
Nusku [Sum-Assy] Fire god and god of light. His symbol was a lamp. He was vizier of Anu and Ellil.
Nut [Egy] A great cosmic goddess whose worship probably goes back to pre-dynastic times––Nut is a mother figure of rebirth echoed in many African tribal mother deities. She is the daughter of Shu and Tefnut, sister and wife of Geb, who represents the earth. Her body was the star-specked sky whose body arches over her husband Geb. She is shown as a beautiful woman (usually wear- ing a vase on her head) or a cow, or a woman with a cow head or horns––her stories often get mixed in with the lunar goddess Hathor. In early legends, she swallowed Ra (the Sun) at dusk and gave birth to him again at dawn (Isis has also been assigned that task in some tales). GEB AND NUT’S CHILDREN Nut spurned advances of the supreme sun god Ra and in his anger he sent Shu to hold her apart from Geb forever. They did manage to get together long enough for her to be pregnant with five children, however. Ra decreed that these children should never be born on any day of any year (you know these gods, they have to leave some kind of weird loophole!). The god Thoth arranged it so that the year got five extra days and she gave birth to one of her offspring each day. The children were Isis, Osiris, Set, Horus [the Elder] and Nephthys.
Nu’tenut [Chuk] An earth spirit that is the owner of the world. Encyclopedia of Beings Page 365 Nüwa/Nu Kwa/Niu-kua/Nu Kua Shih [China] The empress of China and creatress- goddess––mother of the Chinese people. She made people out of yellow clay and restored balance and harmony to universe. She was sometimes envisioned as having the head of a beautiful woman with the horns of an ox and the body of a great serpent, other myths have her as androgynous. Nüwa defeated her enemies with valour and cunning, but one of them, desperate, tore down a pillar which held up the heavens (a lot of cultures seem to have tales of support struts for the celestial sphere). She gathered up stones of five colours and repaired the breach before it could flood the world. Later stories have her as the sister of the heroic emperor Fu Xi. The two were instructed by the gods to reproduce the human race, and from their lineage came all the peoples of the earth. She succeeded her brother/husband as the second of the Three Sovereigns. Interestingly, some tales have her as a matriarchal queen before Fu Xi’s reign.
Nuying [China] Daughter of Em- peror Yao and sister of E’huang. She and her sister married their dad’s The great goddess Nüwa molded humans out of clay, at successor, Emperor Shun. After first carefully forming each one. Later she splattered clay Shun’s death, the sisters (dying of on the ground to make the rest of us. The nobles were hand grief) became the goddesses of the made by her, and the peasants were made from the splats. Xiang River.
Nyakaya [Shik] Crocodile goddess, she represents the element of water. She married Okwa, son of Omara (who represents sky) and the goddess Diang (who represents earth).
Nyambe/Nyame [Ashn/Baro/Bako] The supreme being––his name may mean ‘Power.’ Nyambe is also considered a god of war, at least in some quarters. After Death killed Odomankoma, the creator, Nyame took his place. He loves and protects the world and everything in it and he is omnipresent, although he moved his home further from the earth to escape our constant noise! He is very likely a descendant of the similarly-named moon goddess from this region, Ngame.
Nyingma [Budd] Supreme Buddha character. He was probably derived from an earlier sky god like Zeus or Dyaus Pitar. The meditation buddha Samantabhadra is probably a form of Nyingma.
Nykteus [Gk] The father of Antiope, according to one story.
Nyktimos [Gk] Son of Lykaon, one story says it was he who was sacrificed to make a meal for the gods.
*Nymphs [Gk] Beautiful female spirits, usually associated some aspect of nature, often water. Dryads are a kind of tree nymphs. Other types of nymphs include creneids, hydriads, leimoniads, naiads, nereids, orestiads, and potomeids. Page 366 Encyclopedia of Beings Nymphs [Mdvl] Female water spirits.
Nyx [Gk] The goddess Night, the mighty black winged goddess that all other gods stand in awe of. Daughter of Chaos and sister of Erebos (the Underworld) and Gaia (the earth). One tale has her as the mother of Eros, who then really got things going, creation-wise. She mated with Erebos, the underworld, and their offspring were Ether and Day. Her other kids were Atropos, the Hesperides, Hypnos, Ker, Keres, Klotho, Lachesis, the Moiraea, Momos, Moros, Nemesis, Oizys, and Thanatos and she may also be the mom of the vengeance-goddess Nemesis.
Nzambe [Bako] The creator god.
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