/lit/ - Literature

You know the word 'night-mare'?
imagine a succubus without the pleasure, and ten times the horror


Here I am lying down to sleep;
No night-mare shall plague me
until they have swum through all waters
that flow upon the earth,
and counted all stars
that appear in the firmament

>The mara (or nightmare, as is the English word for them) appears as a skinny young woman, dressed in a nightgown, with pale skin and long black hair and nails. As sand they could slip through the slightest crack in the wood of a wall and terrorize the sleeping by "riding" on their chest, thus giving them nightmares. They would sometimes ride cattle that, when touched by the Mara, would have their hair or fur tangled and energy drained, while trees would curl up and wilt. In some tales they had a similar role to the Banshee as an omen of death and if one were to leave a dirty doll in a family living room, one of the members would soon fall ill and die of tuberculosis (also called "lung soot", referring to how the lack of proper chimneys in old 18–19th century homes led to many contracting aforementioned diseases due to inhaling smoke on a daily basis).
>There is controversy as to how they came into being and in some tales, the Maras are simply restless children, whose souls leave their body at night to haunt the living.