Laly-gag - [Fearsome Critter]

 Laly-Gag - [Fearsome Critter] - Latin: Ignavus Sapidum" - Aka: "Lali-Gag"

• About this critter: A seldom seen creature of the Pinewoods which was vaguely described in 1905 as: 'A two footed critter that 'skirks work and sponges its livin'" - it walks about the woods in a clumsy melancholic daze, accomplishing nothing at all. its huge head and lack of arms causes it to dawdle & stumble about helplessly in an imbalanced dizzy daze (Caused by tripping over itself a few too many times.) If normally focused, hard-working lumbermen or farmhands suddenly procrastinated from their work & chores, then a nearby 'Laly-gag' was surely to blame. - (Perhaps they tasted like hard candy?) 

• History: This critter was earliest described vaguely as "a two footed critter that 'skirks work and sponges its livin'" just a single line mentioned in in 'Deacon Whites Idees.' [S.W.Brown 1905]  - [however, it was listed among variants of better known critters (such as the 'guyanther' & the hew-gag.]– in the story, some of the local Lumbermen & farmers gather at the village store and gossip about various hazing pranks which where played on greenhorns and the lessons learned from such pranks. - Jim, who seems to be a bit of a hard-ass farmer type, pranks the Scandinavian "John Olson" who showed up one day at his camp, sent from another camp looking for a 'cross-all' - Thing is, this supposed ‘cross-all’ was not an actual tool, but rather it was actually a well known prank played on new workers when their presence was not desired in a crew of experienced workmen. - (This is a pretty common type of hazing also known as a 'wild goose chase' other examples of variants of this prank include asking someone to bring you a 'sulky neck yoke' or perhaps a fictional tool such as 'left-handed monkey wrench.' (for a similar prank also see the snipe hunt.)- He decides to give him an old sled (the heaviest thing possible) to take back to his camp. When questioned by others if he was being 'too harsh' on the swede; Jim says that 'John won't fall for a trick like that a second time' The group then, rather spontaneously, begins to joke and talk about the 'great animals' found in that e pine woods...(list below!) Its more than likely that the 'laly-gag' was a diss towards the other 'lazy workers' – as on the next page whilst describing the hew-gag, he says that he wishes it would chase his friend because he had never seen him run!

[Clippings from 'Deacon Whites Idees.' [S.W.Brown 1905] here Jim also talks about the "guyanther, slap-jack, hew-gag, wack-a-lack, go-devil, porcuhog & wannigan" among other common animals such as wolves and bears.]

Just in-case the naming pun wasn't obvious; the dictionary defines 'lollygagging' as spending time aimlessly (often lazily) or to dawdle (or procrastinate) or simply to fool around and waste time slowly! - I like to think that perhaps its a critter that causes laziness or sudden procrastination in workers when they don't intend it perhaps because its helpless? -Perhaps it could be seen as a personification of executive-dysfunction? 🤔 - Either way, it was described so vaguely its apt to say that you could say it does "nothing at all!"

...this one and the others mentioned in Deacon Whites Idees might just be significant as the book came out 5 whole years before "Fearsome Creatures of the Lumber-woods" was published in 1910... *yawn* --But there's really not much more to say about it as there was so very little ever written about it before now. -- Anyway I'll investigate and draw a couple of the others from this list eventually... ZZZ...

[Art sticker by SamKalensky part of my Fearsome Critters collection of stickers. Support and follow for more. Much thanks go to my friend @RyanHarmsen for the inspiration/help researching this one.]