Hili

(HIL-ee)

Variations: TIKOLOSHE, Tokoloshe

The Xhosa people of Lesotho, Africa, tell of a vampiric bird called a hili. Large and skull-headed, it drips bile and fecal matter from its body as it flies. If so much as a single drop lands on a person, he will contract a disease so powerful that only the strongest magic can cure it. To keep the illness from spreading throughout the community, the infected person must be driven out. As the victim grows sicker and sicker, the hili returns to be near so that it may be the first animal on the scene when the person dies.

Source: Broster, Amagqirha, 60; Bud-M'Belle, Kafir Scholar's Companion, 82; Doyle, Francis Carey Slater, 38, 121; Theal, Faffir, 149­50