What is menacing in the one-horned. Hunting spirits and other local spirits in Mongolian folklore

Abstract

Mongolian local spirits are highly various. The present article considers a separate group of local spirits-hunting spirits. They manifest themselves before people in the nature of animals having but two key features: they are entirely painted white and have only one horn instead of two. In a region, where those beliefs are common, the main features of local spirits are not unique to them alone. They are transferred to other mythological characters, as a result there are some narratives of magic qualities of the white color, of a one-toothed tarbagan and one-eyed fishes as well as an aquatic one horned bull.