*NOK HASADEE: Ambivalence and Balance*
A gigantic elephant-headed bird, Nok Hasadee inhabits the tangled, thorny rattan-cane areas of Himapan, where he patiently waits in camouflage for ungulates—his favored prey. During heavy rains, especially when he is neither furious nor famished, Nok Hasadee fancies making noise by playing an enormous 'khawng wong yai' or, simply, smelling the scent of the forest with his proboscis. This is the reason many Thai natives, especially those of the Central Plains, view thunderstorms as one of Nok Hasadee’s destructive pranks. Nevertheless, they describe him as a paradoxical character—playful yet lonesome, childlike yet predatory.