“Hale!” “Halele!”
It was late one evening, on the road along the coast between Iconi and Moroni. A man was driving home. The road was dark, barely lit by his headlights.
By the roadside, a woman was waving. She was elegant, well dressed, and seemed to have been waiting a long time. The man stopped and offered her a lift. She got in, thanked him, and they chatted all the way, about this and that. She laughed readily; he found her charming.
At one point, the man stopped to take something from the glove compartment. His gaze dropped to the floor of the car… and he froze. Beneath the woman's wrap, instead of feet, there were two ox's hooves.
The man fainted. When he opened his eyes again, day was breaking. He was alone in his car, by the side of the road. The passenger had vanished.
What we know about it
This story circulates in many forms. It shows that djinns do not only people the old tales: they also turn up in today's stories, behind the wheel of a car. In Comorian beliefs, djinns can take on almost any appearance (a hen, a goat, a stone, a beautiful woman), but one detail often gives them away, as the feet do here.
The story resembles the “phantom hitchhikers” told about all over the world: a contemporary legend, passed on by word of mouth and now on social media.
Further reading
- Voices of the archipelago Salim Hatubou, Contes et légendes des Comores ou Genèse d'un pays bantu, 2004. reissued as Aux origines du monde : contes et légendes des Comores, Flies France, 2015.