Quibungo

If Quibungo lowers its head, it’s a good idea to move away. In Bahian stories, this is how the mouth he has in the middle of his back opens. There, the animal can swallow a child whole. Nina Rodrigues heard of him as a being half man, half animal, with a huge head. From the way he eats, you can already see that he is a very particular bogeyman.

The name also tells a story. Linguist Yeda Pessoa de Castro, cited by Josiley Francisco de Souza, links Quibungo to mbungu, a Bantu word that designates hyena or wild dog. She found among the Bakongo and Ambundu peoples of Africa, related names for a fantastic being that also scared children.

What does a Quibungo sound like when it comes calling? In Guimarães Rosa’s “A terrível parábola”, a little dog warns a girl that the creature is at the door. The girl wants to let it in and tries to silence the dog. Even death doesn’t stop the little dog singing in the yard. When the visitor finally enters, you can almost hear its footsteps on the stairs. At each flight, the verse repeats its name: Kibungo-Gerê.

When following these stories from Bahia to Minas Gerais, Josiley even found a version told by a boy from Belo Horizonte in which the wolf comes to the door. The puppy is still there. It’s one of the fun things about hearing the same story from another mouth: sometimes the animal changes its name and the person we recognize first is the character who gives the warning.