Asin
The Asin is a hairy forest-dwelling cannibal of Alsea tradition who enchants wandering children and carries them off to be eaten.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Native American folklore
- Region
- Pacific Northwest (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Child-Frighteners
- Symbols
- Claw/ NailHairHandTeeth
Near this figure
and 1 more
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Claw/ Nail bears image-domain The claw denotes the fierce efficiency of tearing and clutching, kept as talisman, while nails hold soul-substance and grow uncannily on after death.
why
Reference works give her a hair-covered body, hands that end in claws, and a mouthful of wolfish teeth, and note that she is classed among nursery-bogie figures used to warn children away from wandering too far from home.
- Hair bears image-domain Hair denotes vitality and the state of the head it grows from, ordered or wild, shorn in renunciation, and red for ardour and suspicion alike.
why
Reference works give her a hair-covered body, hands that end in claws, and a mouthful of wolfish teeth, and note that she is classed among nursery-bogie figures used to warn children away from wandering too far from home.
- Hand bears image-domain The hand denotes agency and the reach of consciousness, which makes, blesses, grasps and destroys, so its loss figures a will barred from acting.
why
Reference works give her a hair-covered body, hands that end in claws, and a mouthful of wolfish teeth, and note that she is classed among nursery-bogie figures used to warn children away from wandering too far from home.
- Teeth bears image-domain Teeth denote the capacity to seize, bite and hold, bared in threat or defence, and dreamt falling when the power to grasp life feels compromised.
why
Reference works give her a hair-covered body, hands that end in claws, and a mouthful of wolfish teeth, and note that she is classed among nursery-bogie figures used to warn children away from wandering too far from home.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Hairy giant wildman
why
Reference works give her a hair-covered body, hands that end in claws, and a mouthful of wolfish teeth, and note that she is classed among nursery-bogie figures used to warn children away from wandering too far from home.
Behaviour
- Invoked to frighten children into obedience
why
Reference works give her a hair-covered body, hands that end in claws, and a mouthful of wolfish teeth, and note that she is classed among nursery-bogie figures used to warn children away from wandering too far from home.
Curses
- Child stealing
why
Some tellings describe the Asin as possessing a magical means of luring children specifically, enchanting huckleberry bushes so that any child who eats the fruit falls under her power and wanders off into the forest to be taken.
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.
- Death carries
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Asin."
- Damiana L. Eugenio, Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, p. 69.
- John Bierhorst, The Mythology of South America, p. 143.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Asin."
- Shadow carries both readings
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Asin."
- Damiana L. Eugenio, Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, p. 69.
- John Bierhorst, The Mythology of South America, p. 143.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Asin."
- Hero meets
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Asin."
- Damiana L. Eugenio, Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, p. 69.
- John Bierhorst, The Mythology of South America, p. 143.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Asin."