Tokwai (Wood Sprites)
Tokwai are revered and feared wood sprites of the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea. These spirits inhabit massive buttressed trees, rocks, grottos, and coral outcrops. Tokwai are gifted and generous spirits who bless humans with special abilities, but they are also notorious for kidnapping fair-skinned, straight-haired babies and children. A child taken by Tokwai may be returned blessed with extraordinary gifts, or with a swollen face or disoriented mind. Morning smog from a tree was considered a sign of Tokwai presence. Before cutting a tree, islanders would ritually ask the resident Tok