Papa Bois
Papa Bois is the old master of the woods in Trinidad and Tobago folklore, a figure hunters fear. Trinidad's national library calls him the best-known of the country's folklore characters.
Trinidad and Tobago's national library, NALIS, says Papa Bois is the best known of the country's folklore figures. NALIS calls him the forest's old man. His names include Daddy Bouchon, which means hairy man, and Maitre bois, which means master of the woods.
Wikipedia gives the manners expected of anyone who meets him. You must be polite, not stare at his hooves, and greet him courteously, for example with "Bon jour, vieux Papa", which means good day, old father. Pictures of him usually show him as a huge manicou, or opossum. Forest hunters fear him because he can appear and vanish at will.
He also appears in fiction. Reviewing Nalo Hopkinson's novel Midnight Robber for Strange Horizons in 2001, the reviewer describes a giant tree the book calls a Papa Bois, or daddy tree. It feeds and shelters the douens of the novel and asks nothing in return.
"It is believed that if one meets Papa Bois, one must be polite and refrain from staring at his hooves, and say a polite greeting to him. For example, "Bon jour, vieux Papa" meaning, "Good day, old father." He is usually represented as a huge Manicou (Opossum). Hunters of the forest are always afraid of him because of his appearing and disappearing trick."
- Trinidad and Tobago Folklore, National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS), Trinidad and Tobago (archived 2002)
- Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson (review), Strange Horizons (2001)