MYASKAY

MYASKAY is an evil demon in Bashkir mythology. The character appears in bylichkas and magic fairytales. According to Bashkir beliefs, M. is the spirit of a dead sorcerer or a person that was buried without appropriate rites observed. The demon flies at night and looks like a fireball, it casts evil spells on people and make them ill, etc. “Meskey death”, “Shagali”, “Seven girls”, “Kamyr-batyr” and other fairytales show the demon that can look like an old woman bringing harm to people, eating them, sucking their blood or their bone marrow, etc. “Tsar, yeget and azhdakha” fairytale tells that M. helps the main character, showing him the way and giving him a piece of advice. The character can be found also in the “Kuziykurpyas and Mayankhylu” epic where it has a role of a kind, 500-year-old sorceress living in inaccessible mountains. There are similar M. characters in mythology of many other peoples. See also Ubyr.