The Lightning bird or Impundulu or Thekwane (or izulu, inyoni yezulu) is a mythological creature in the folklore of the tribes of South Africa including the Pondo, the Zulu and the Xhosa. The impundulu (which translates as "lightning bird") takes the form of a black and white bird, the size of a human, which is said to summon thunder and lightning with its wings and talons. It is a vampiric creature associated with witchcraft which was often the servant or familiar of a witch or witch doctor, attacking the witch's enemies. It is said to have an insatiable appetite for blood. It is said to sometimes take the form of a beautiful young man and seduce women.
Read more about Lightning Bird: The Bird, Its Powers, Cultural Significance
Famous quotes containing the words lightning and/or bird:
“When the cross blue lightning seemed to open
The breast of heaven, I did present myself
Even in the aim and very flash of it.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“With the holders holding my hand nearing the call of the bird,
Comrades mine and I in the midst, and their memory ever to keep, for the dead I loved so well,
For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and
lands—and this for his dear sake,
Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,
There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)