STALLO
A Stallo is a Golem-like creature that Sami shamans make in Lapland. A Stallo was made from a piece of peat-turf upon which no human foot had ever stepped. From this piece, the shaman would cut pieces and lay them out upon the ground in the shape of man. To make the Stallo stand up and move, the shaman had to breathe out slowly and evenly over the turf. Then he called out in a loud voice that the Sami who had placed him there would give the Stallo half his strength and half his life, and now the Stallo would stand up and be ready to serve the shaman. In the days when shamans fought fellow shamans for influence—or just out of trickery or spite—they would send each other a Stallo or 'visitor', which is what the word means. The Stallo would then proceed to irritate and upset his master's enemy by tipping food from his plate, hiding his skis or making his fire go out. After this kind of procedure had happened time after time, the rival shaman would realize that he had a Stallo in his home. The Stallo was often given away by the low whistling that he made. This whistling was the signal that a Stallo would take shape. (In the far north, whistling is a form of magic all of its own.) When it became visible, the Stallo would then challenge the rival shaman, threatening to take his goods in a combat if he won, or else, if the rival won he would kill the Stallo and possess all that he had—which was half of what the sending shaman had! If the rival won, then the sending shaman would fall sick, since half his life-power would instantly leave him.
Text from The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by John and Caitlin Matthews (HarperElement, 2005)
