The enfant terrible is a character appearing in the tales and myths of many cultures of West and Central Africa, mainly amongst the traditions of the Bambara and Madinka. Recognizable by the unusual circumstances surrounding their birth and an extraordinary precocity the enfant terrible are guilty of transgressive behavior, often destructive or suicidal, leaving the societies from which they spawned helpless to stop them. Depending on circumstances, they may eventually return to the divine world from which they come or change into benevolent powers.