Mafu, the Human-Faced Tiger of Mount Manqu
Mafu lives on Mount Manqu, where the Yi River begins: a beast with a human face on a tiger's body and a cry like a baby's. It eats people.
- Chinese name
- 马腹 (mǎfù)
- Oldest source
- Shan Hai Jing, Central Mountains, Book 2
- Where it lives
- Mount Manqu
- In the game
- Metal beast · 2 Gold · Pounce
What the Shan Hai Jing says
The Mafu lives on Mount Manqu, the last of the nine mountains in the second book of the Central Mountains. The text says the mountain is rich in gold and jade on top and in bamboo for arrows below, and that the Yi River rises here and flows east into the Luo. Several rivers earlier in this chain flow into the Yi, so the book ends at the source of the river that ties the whole chain together.
伊水出焉，而东流注于洛。有兽焉，其名曰马腹，其状如人面虎身，其音如婴儿，是食人。
The Yi River flows from here east into the Luo. A beast lives here called the Mafu: a human face on a tiger's body, a cry like a baby's. It eats people.
The beast is described in a single line. Its name is Mafu, which literally means "horse belly", though nothing in the text explains the name. It has a human face on a tiger's body, its cry is like a baby's, and it eats people. There is no omen and no use given, only a plain warning that this creature is dangerous to anyone who meets it on the mountain.
A baby's cry and a human face
The Mafu shares two details with some of the most dangerous creatures in the book. A cry like a baby's is also given to the Nine-Tailed Fox and to the Paoxiao, the beast later identified with Taotie, and all of them eat people. The human face on an animal body is another recurring sign that a creature is uncanny rather than simply wild. Read together, these entries suggest a fear that runs through the mountain books: a sound or a face that seems human, coming from something that is not.
The gods of the chain
At the end of the second book of the Central Mountains, the text sums up the chain: nine mountains from Mount Huizhu to Mount Manqu. Their gods all have human faces and bird bodies, and they are honoured with an offering of hair or fur and a fine jade that is thrown in rather than laid out with grain. Mount Manqu's neighbours along the same rivers include Mount Yang, whose winged Huashe brings floods to its town.
The Mafu in our game
In Beasts of Shanhai the Mafu is a hunter. Every blow it lands heals it, and it has a good chance to strike for double damage, so a Mafu that gets going is hard to stop. At three stars, any healing beyond full health turns into a shield. It is a metal beast costing 2 Gold, with the human face and tiger body the text describes.
Man-Faced Tiger in Beasts of Shanhai
In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Man-Faced Tiger is a Metal beast that costs 2 Gold. Its skill is Pounce. Lifesteal: it heals half the damage it deals, and it has +15% Crit. Crit rises to +30% at two stars and +45% at three stars, when lifesteal past full HP also becomes Shield.
Questions
What is the Mafu?
A man-eating beast of Mount Manqu in the second book of the Central Mountains, with a human face on a tiger's body and a cry like a baby's.
What does Mafu mean?
The name literally means "horse belly". The Shan Hai Jing does not explain it.
Where does the Mafu live?
On Mount Manqu, where the Yi River rises and flows east into the Luo River.
More creatures
Huashe 化蛇A human-faced jackal with bird wings that slithers like a snake and shouts. When it appears, its town is flooded.
Taotie 饕餮A goat-bodied beast with a human face and eyes under its arms, so greedy it eats itself.
Nine-Tailed Fox 九尾狐A fox with nine tails and a cry like a baby's. It eats people, and eating it keeps curses away.
Hundun 混沌A faceless god like a red sack, with six legs and four wings. It has no eyes, yet it knows song and dance.
Bai Ze 白泽A talking beast that knows the nature of all things. Not in the Shan Hai Jing, but often counted among its creatures.
Bashe 巴蛇A huge snake of blue, yellow, red and black that swallows elephants and spits out the bones after three years.