IRGAIL

IRGAIL is a character of Bashkir magical fairytales, a chthonian creature. It looks like an old dwarf with a long beard “half of a yard in height, but the beard is five hundred yards in length”, which hoards all his power. It is connected to dark evil powers. It lives underground. If people do not obey the dwarf, he could hang a person by his ear on a nail or cut off his finger (“Syntimir-­pekhlevan the wolf’s son”, “Ayugolak” etc.); the dwarf also could settle in the bottom of a well and deprive people of water (“Khasan and Khusain”, “Akyal­-batyr” et.al.) etc. Some fairytales consider I. as the father of diyu (“Yetegen­-batyr”, “Ismay”). Only the best batyr can defeat I.