Neferu is the first wife of Khalim, dead for thousands of years, whose remnant returns every morning as a black-cloaked bird to bring him back to life. Those who dealt with her call her “the Strangler of the Nile.”
| Type | Spirit / remnant |
| Spouse | Khalim (disputed) |
| Spanish entry | Neferu |
History
Khalim caused her death: “he made Neferu die, who was his first wife.” Of the Arupices lineage, associated with her death, one member survives, “the only Arupice left.”
Manifestations
Every morning, “always, for thousands of years,” a black-cloaked bird descends on Khalim’s body and restores him fully. In the resurrection she “released a bird that put the black cloak on him.” Elsewhere she appears as “little birds flying” around him — “only what is left of Neferu.” She has no fixed place: she appears wherever he falls. She names herself in fixed formulas: «Soy el espíritu de Neferu, elijo a Jalim» (“I am the spirit of Neferu, I choose Jalim”) and “I am what is left of Neferu.”
Without her, Khalim’s death would be final.
The gift
She also left a magic gift that resurrects its bearer, a limited, portable form of the same power. It does not always work, and not at all if the bearer is off the correct plane.
Conflicting accounts
- Her husband appears as Khalim, Jalín, Jalil, and as Kyrios when he calls her “my wife.”
- Another account makes her “one of the best wives” of a Marco Salvador, whether another name of the same husband or a third figure.
Open questions
- Whether she is spirit, remnant or separate entity; whether the bird and the little birds are one form.
- Whether the “thousands of years” measure her age, Khalim’s or the custom’s.
- How she earned her epithet.
- What “the correct plane” is, what befalls the bearer off it, and whether the gift serves anyone.
- Why Khalim caused her death and why she revives him.
- How she appears in a prison scene though dead.