Part 11

In this story the girls are represented as taking fermented milk to the man. This is not in accordance with ordinary Kaffir usage, which prohibits females from serving out milk. But Long Snake, though a man, has been bewitched and obliged to assume the appearance of a serpent, retaining however the faculties of a human being.

Kaffir women grind, or rather bruise, millet by putting it on a flat stone, before which the worker kneels, and crushing it with a small round stone held in the hands. When several are working near each other of an evening, they usually lighten their labours by a rude chant. The bruised substance is mixed with water, and formed into small loaves of very insipid bread.

THE STORY OF KENKEBE.

In the above story Kenkebe is represented as the personification of selfish greed. In this character his name has passed into a common proverb—

Sibayeni sonke, Kenkebe. We are all bridegrooms, Kenkebe.

This saying is used to any one who does not readily share food with others. It means, we are all entitled to a portion, you greedy one. A Kaffir, when eating, commonly shares his food with any others who may be present at the time.

STORY OF LION AND LITTLE JACKAL.

This story is very likely of Hottentot origin. It is generally told by the Kaffirs, but I have observed that it is a special favourite in places only where there is a very strong tinge of Hottentot blood.

It is capable of indefinite extension by the narrator, but the tricks of Little Jackal are always very silly ones. The above are among the best of them.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Words without meaning, but used to express contempt, being merely a repetition of the sound ngci.

[2] A Kaffir who went with the mission party from Lovedale to Lake Nyassa, and remained there several years, informs me that he found the Imfumba the commonest game of the children in that part of Africa. When he had learned the language of the people there, he was surprised to hear many of the common Kaffir folklore stories told nearly as he had heard them related by Gaika women when he was a boy.