Kishi (folklore) VS Iara (mythology)

The kishi is a two-faced demon in Angola. According to legend, a kishi has an attractive human man's face on the front of its body and a hyena's face on the back. Kishi are said to use their human face as well as smooth talk and other charms to attract young women, who they then eat with the hyena face. The hyena face is said to have long sharp teeth and jaws so strong they cannot be pulled off anything it bites. The word kishi, nkishi, or mukisi means "spirit" in several Bantu languages spoken in Zaire, northern Zambia, and Angola.

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Iara, also spelled Uiara or Yara (Portuguese pronunciation: [iˈjaɾɐ], [iˈaɾɐ], [ˈjaɾɐ], [wiˈjaɾɐ], [ujˈjaɾɐ]) or Mãe das Águas ([ˈmɐ̃j dɐˈz aɣwɐs], "mother of the waters"), is a figure from Brazilian mythology based on ancient Tupi and Guaraní mythology. The word derives from Old Tupi yîara = y ("water") + îara ("lord; lady") = "lady of the lake" (water queen). Depending on the oral tradition and the context of the story, she can be seen either as a water nymph, a siren, or a beautiful mermaid that lives in the rivers of the Amazon Basin.

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