Person or creature with one foot and one leg
Auniped (fromLatinuni- "one" andped- "foot") is a person or creature with only onefoot and oneleg, as contrasted with abiped (two legs) and aquadruped (four legs). Moving using only one leg is known asunipedal movement. Manybivalvia and nearly allgastropoda molluscs have evolved only one foot. Through accidents (i.e.amputation) orbirth abnormalities it is also possible for an animal, includinghumans, to end up with only a single leg.
In fiction and mythology
[edit]One major study of mythological unipeds is Teresa Pàroli (2009): "How many are the unipeds' feet? Their tracks in texts and sources", inAnalecta Septentrionalia: Beiträge zur nordgermanischen Kultur- und Literaturgeschichte, ed. byWilhelm Heizmann,Klaus Böldl andHeinrich Beck (Berlin/London/New York: De Gruyter), pp. 281–327.
- In theSaga of Erik the Red, a native ofVinland who is described as being one-legged kills one of Eric's men (his brother). In the children's fiction bookThey Came on Viking Ships byJackie French, a uniped is a one-legged Norse mythical creature that lived in the south of Vinland during the time of the expedition ofFreydís Eiríksdóttir.[1]
- Thesciapod was another mythical one-legged humanoid.
- In Japanese mythology and folklore, someyōkai such as thekarakasa-obake and the ippon-datara have one leg.
- In theNarnia bookThe Voyage of the Dawn Treader byC. S. Lewis, the heroes meet the "Dufflepuds". These are two-leggeddwarfs who have been rendered one-legged by their master, a wizard. He did this to force them to use the water from the stream next to their food garden, rather than walking miles to get the water.[citation needed]
- In Brazilian folklore, there is a mythical humanoid uniped called "Saci" who appears in several tales and is associated withdustdevils. Colombian folklore has a female version of this monster, the "Patasola".
- InMayan mythology,God K and his equivalents are represented with one leg.[2] One of these equivalents is theK'iche'Maya storm deityHuracan, whose name means "one-leg".[3]
- In the Indian epicMahabharata, there is a mention of a Southern Indian tribe of humans named 'Ekapada' (literally 'one-footed') living, whichSahadeva conquers.[4][5]
- InHindu culture, there is a form of the godShiva known asEkapada.
