AlphaBeasts Week II: B is for Barbegazi

It's time for another weekly alphabetical project! Instead of living, breathing animals, we're now doing an A-to-Z of mythical creatures and fictional monsters called ALPHABEASTS!

My entry for "B" is barbegazi, a legendary creature from Swiss mythology. The word barbegazi comes from the French barbe-glacée, meaning "frozen beard."

The barbegazi is a variety of gnome or dwarf, generally portrayed as a man covered in white fur with a long beard and massive feet. It is said that he uses his gigantic feet like snowshoes or even like skis to navigate the heavy snow cover of the Swiss Alps. In the summer they hibernate in caves and tunnels until the first snowfall.

From the Wiki entry:

Because of their penchant for high altitudes and low temperatures, they are rarely sighted by humans, but sometimes help shepherds round up lost sheep. Their greatest known excitement is surfing on avalanches with their remarkably large feet, but they are said to give low whistling cries to warn humans of the danger above, sometimes they will give their best effort to dig humans out from the snow.

Microns and Prismacolor marker on 11x14 drawing stock.