Átahsaia (alternatively spelled A'tahsaia or Atasaya) is a giant cannibalistic demon in the religion and mythos of the Zuni people of the Southwestern United States.
[2] In one story, he is said to have long, wild grey hair and hands with skin so thick and gnarled that the knuckles appeared horned.
[3] In another tale, he is said to have chest hair as prickly as a porcupine's quills, immensely muscular arms covered in black and white scales, a scalp covered in bristly hair like a bison's mane, a mouth that stretched from ear to ear, and a wrinkled, swollen red face.
[4] Several stories agree that he had bulging eyes that did not blink, yellow tusks that protruded past his lips, and long talons.
The twin Zuni war gods, Åhayúta and Mátsailéma, rescue the two young women and kill the demon.
[9] According to anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons, Átahsaia figures in a Zuni spiritual dance intended to teach children lessons about obedience.
[15] The goal of the dance is to "wipe the earth", to allow dead things to decay and the land and people to be renewed.
[16] More recently, poet Janet K. Brennan has written a poem about Átahsaia, depicting the demon as a gentle giant catching fireflies.
[17] In her Lizzie Grace series, author Keri Arthur has one summoned by a master vampire witch for revenge against her maker in Shadow's End.