April 5, 2022

H is for Hoarding

         (My A to Z theme this year is How to Make a Fantastical Creature, in which I explore 26 traits that are widely shared among the monsters and marvels of fantasy and folklore.  If you want to see what some of this year’s other A to Z bloggers are up to, check here.)
        Lots of mythical creatures have a habit of hoarding treasure.  This one seems sort of strange, because while there are animals in the natural world that like to collect shiny or colorful objects, it seems to me that animals wouldn’t really have much use for gold.  No, the real reason magical creatures like gold is that humans like gold.  If the creatures are evil, we can happily kill them and take their gold for ourselves, and if they’re good, they can happily give us the gold, or guard our own treasures for us.  If there’s one thing we humans like to imagine, it’s collecting treasure, so naturally when we’re imagining mythical creatures, a certain amount of treasure inevitably creeps into the story.
        Once again it’s the dragon that exemplifies this trait, probably dating back to the Norse story of Fafnir, whose unhealthy greed for treasure is what transformed him into a dragon in the first place.  As both Fafnir and Smaug could tell you, dwarfs like hoarding gold and precious objects, too.  In the medieval era it was griffins who were especially known for guarding treasure.
        The alicanto of Chile is a bird that could have been introduced under G, since it glows.  Unlike dragons, it has a real use for gold and other precious metals: they are its food.  If you see an alicanto glowing in the night you can try to follow it to the veins of precious ore from which it feeds.  (It can’t fly because eating all that metal makes it too heavy.)  But be careful, because it will be protective of its food sources and may try to lead you astray.
        Another gold-eater is the Chinese pixiu, a winged lion (which could have been introduced at F), that goes out in search of wealth, which he finds by smell.  He then brings gold and silver back and guards the treasure for his master.
        In Lithuania you may be able to get your hands on some of the gold gathered by the aitvaras or the similar kaukas.  These fiery-tailed dragons collect wealth for the specific purpose of enriching the household they’ve adopted.  However, as they are none too particular about where or how they acquire this wealth, you may have to choose between the aitvaras and an amicable relationship with your neighbors.
        You’re not as likely to get your hands on the gold of the Spanish cuelebre.  This is a flying snake (again, see F) that guards treasure.  Or at least, it’s said to do so, but I cannot confirm it as apparently no one has every actually found the treasure and returned to tell the tale.
        Then there’s the more recently-discovered niffler of the Wizarding world, which has a long snout that might be mistaken for a platypus beak.  Nifflers can be used to hunt for treasure, but such is their glee in shiny objects that they will tear a house or building apart in their search for anything glittery.
        The moral of these stories is that while a sufficiency of wealth is always good, enormous wealth may not be worth the price you’ll have to pay for it.  Nevertheless, if you’re determined, a Pro Tip for treasure hunters is to consider employing the gold-digging ants of India or Ethiopia.  These fox-sized gold-digging beasts are not, in fact, ants, but in any case the gold sand they dig can be gathered up onto camels and hauled away for your own enjoyment.

        Is there anything you particularly enjoy hoarding - I mean, collecting?



[Pictures: Dragon (Smaug), illustration by John Howe for The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1990 (Image from John-Howe.com);
Griffin, illustration by Henry Justice Ford from The Red Book of Animal Stories by Andrew Lang ed., 1899 (Image from Wikimedia Commons);
Pixiu, brass statue, c 1900 (Image from Pamono);
Niffler, poster by anonymous designer from Sykes Cottages ad campaign, 2016 (Image from Sykes Cottages);
Gold-digging Ant, wood block print from Ortus sanitatis by Johann Prüss, 1499 (Image from Boston Public Library);
Hoard of Teacups and Saucers, illustration by Lauren, 2014 (Image from artist’s web site iguanamouth.tumblr).]

10 comments:

Melanie Atherton Allen said...

Ooh, what fun!
"...a certain amount of treasure inevitably creeps into the story." That made me laugh aloud.
This list is amazing! When you mentioned magical things that hoard gold, I thought of dragons and leprechauns, but the others are new to me.
As for things that I personally hoard, I have a book problem. If I can buy an old book for cheap, I almost always do it. Even if I know I won't read it. I just like owning it and looking at it. Especially if there are illustrations. So it really is more like a hoard than a proper, dignified collection.

Jayashree Srivatsan said...

Earrings ... thats what i love to hoard and find it extremely difficult to dispose... i am 40 and i still have earrings my mother got for me when I was like 12 or 15 ... ha ha

Ronel Janse van Vuuren said...

So many new creatures!

Ronel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: H

Deborah Weber said...

Oh, you're not going to get me to reveal what treasures are in my hoard Anne. I suspect you might have a fox-sized ant on call!

Anne E.G. Nydam said...

Melanie, I am with you on the books - if leather is involved in the cover in any way, I want it!

Jayashree, at least earrings don't take up too much room. You can hoard a LOT of earrings in the space of even one or two of Melanie's books.

Deborah, don't worry, I've got enough treasures of my own. I promise I won't send my ants after yours! =)

A Tarkabarka Hölgy said...

Ha I never thought about why dragons would hoard gold. I guess I kind of imagined them as bowerbirds who live shinies. I recently retold a folktale where a dragon's hoard determined what their eggs would hatch into, like temperature does with alligators...
The Multicolored Diary

Lisa said...

Ummm... yes, I hoard (collect) lots of things! Insulators. Dog figurines. Flower frogs. Pie birds. Thrift store art work. Live herbs. Oh, I am a hoarder of treasures, but not like a dangerous pile of stuff hoarder!

Alana said...

When I think of gold hoarding, I think of a psychological term, projection, when you project your thoughts, your actions, onto someone else. You would love to hoard gold so you think all these creatures out there are hoarding gold. Your gold! You need to take it! I hoard all kinds of things, especially books. How many mythological creatures hoard books, I wonder? Probably not many.

kajmeister said...

I've been reading El Hobbit, in Spanish (on Senor Bolson), for over a year. Smaug es un gusano muy largo. I can now recognize by sight, anillo (ring), enano (dwarf), and saqueador (burglar).

I wonder what Spanish is for hoarder? acumulador!

Anne E.G. Nydam said...

Zalka, I love the idea of the hoard affecting how the eggs hatch! I guess it's undeniable that what we surround ourselves with affects how our children grow up, so...

Lisa, your collections sound intriguing.

Alana, I'm sure you're right. There is a lot of projection that goes on when people imagine magical creatures. You could probably see how various sorts of projection play into every one of my topics in the alphabet!

kajmeister, acumulador seems like a good guess, although my second language is not Spanish. You'll be able to have interesting conversations in Spanish when you're learning it through El Hobbit.