Mmoatia

The little folk of the forest

Rattray's Asante informants described mmoatia (singular aboatia) as very small forest beings, sometimes said to have feet pointing backwards, who could make themselves unseen, stole food and palm wine, and knew the medicinal uses of plants. They were said to teach that knowledge to some people, and Rattray recorded the belief that certain priests had learned their craft from them. They are not gods and are not served at shrines; they belong, with the sasabonsam, to the dangerous and unpredictable life of the deep forest.

In the stories

In the tale Rattray printed as the origin of anansesem, the fourth prize Nyame demands for his stories is a mmoatia. Ananse carves a wooden doll, covers it with sticky gum, and sets it beside a bowl of mashed yam; the fairy eats the yam, grows angry when the doll does not answer her, strikes it, and sticks fast. The same sticky-figure trick travelled to the Americas and appears in African American and Caribbean tales.