- Axehandle hound
The Axehandle Hound (sometimes spelled axhandle hound, ax-handle hound, or other similar variants), is an American
folklore creature with origins inlumberjack culture, specifically the lumber camps ofMinnesota andWisconsin . It is part of a group of similar folklore creatures known collectively asFearsome Critters . Overall, it resembles a dog with a roughly axelike shape. Its head is shaped like an axe blade, while its body, carried on short stubby legs, resembles an axe handle. It eats axe handles which have been left unattended.Purpose and belief
Similarly to folklore such as
Paul Bunyan , the person relating the story of the axehandle hound rarely indicates that it is something the storyteller actually believes in, and most listeners (except perhaps the very young) understand that they are hearing atall tale . This differentiates the axehandle hound from folklore creatures believed by some to be real (such asBigfoot ) and from folklore stories designed to cause genuine fright in the (young) listener, such as the boogeyman or scissorman. Instead, the axehandle hound is similar to thegremlin , in that it provides a non-serious scapegoat to blame when an axe is broken or missing. It also becomes a gentle reminder not to leave axes unattended outside at night, for obvious safety and economy reasons.In Borges' "Book of Imaginary Beings
A description of the axehandle hound can be found in
Jorge Luis Borges ' "Book of Imaginary Beings ", in a chapter entitled "Fauna of the United States". Borges gives the origin of the axehandle hound as the lumberjack camps inMinnesota orWisconsin , and places it among similar animals which, in his words, "no one, surely, has ever believed in."As a place name
In Minnesota, there is a canoe-access campground named Ax-Handle Hound after the folklore creature. It can be found on the
Little Fork River nearVoyageurs National Park and very near the town ofLinden Grove . A map can be found at [http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/canoe_routes/little_fork_se.pdf this link] . Google has a [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.57764,82.441406&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=47.860556,-92.899468&spn=0.005168,0.010064 satellite image] of the campground.ee also
*
Folklore of the United States
*Gremlin
*Fearsome Critters References
*Baughman, Ernest Warren - "Type and Motif-index of the Folktales of England and North America", Mouton 1966, page 533.
*Borges, Jorge Luis - "Book of Imaginary Beings", Viking 2005, ISBN 0-670-89180-0, page 83.
*Botkin, B. A. - "The American People: Stories, Legends, Tales, Traditions and Songs", Transaction Publishers, ISBN 1-56000-984-5, page 250.
*Botkin, B. A. - "The Pocket Treasury of American Folklore", Pocket Books 1950
*Rose, Carol - "Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth", W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-32211-4, page 32, 119.External links
* [http://digilander.libero.it/ilcrepuscolodeglidei/creature/a/axehandle.htm Description] (in Italian)
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