Part 3

When the Giraffe was dead, the Tortoise crawled out and went to the Crab (who is considered as the mother of the Tortoise), and told her what had happened. Then the Crab said—

“The little Crab! I could sprinkle it under its arm with boochoo, [10] The crooked-legged little one, I could sprinkle under its arm.”

The Tortoise answered its mother and said—

“Have you not always sprinkled me, That you want to sprinkle me now?”

Then they went and fed for a whole year on the remains of the Giraffe.

16. THE TORTOISES HUNTING THE OSTRICHES.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, p. 8.)

One day, it is said, the Tortoises held a council how they might hunt Ostriches, and they said, “Let us, on both sides, stand in rows near each other, and let one go to hunt the Ostriches, so that they must flee along through the midst of us.” They did so, and as they were many, the Ostriches were obliged to run along through the midst of them. During this they did not move, but, remaining always in the same places, called each to the other, “Are you there?” and each one answered, “I am here.” The Ostriches hearing this, ran so tremendously that they quite exhausted their strength, and fell down. Then the Tortoises assembled by-and-by at the place where the Ostriches had fallen, and devoured them.

III.

BABOON FABLES.

Heretse! Heretse! Thou thin-armed one, Who hast thin hands! Thou smooth bulrush mat, Thou whose neck is bent. Thou who art made so as to be lifted up (upon a tree), Who liftest thyself up. Thou who wilt not die even behind that hill Which is yet beyond those hills, That lie on the other side of this far-distant hill. [11]

17. THE JUDGMENT OF THE BABOON.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, of this little Namaqualand Fable, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, pp. 33, 35.)

One day, it is said, the following story happened. The Mouse had torn the clothes of Itkler (the tailor), who then went to the Baboon, and accused the Mouse with these words:—

“In this manner I come to thee:—The Mouse has torn my clothes, but will not know anything of it, and accuses the Cat; the Cat protests likewise her innocence, and says the Dog must have done it; but the Dog denies it also, and declares the Wood has done it; and the Wood throws the blame on the Fire, and says, ‘The Fire did it;’ the Fire says, ‘I have not, the Water did it;’ the Water says, ‘The Elephant tore the clothes;’ and the Elephant says, ‘The Ant tore them.’ Thus a dispute has arisen among them. Therefore I, Itkler, come to thee with this proposition: Assemble the people and try them, in order that I may get satisfaction.”

Thus he spake, and the Baboon assembled them for trial. Then they made the same excuses which had been mentioned by Itkler, each one putting the blame upon the other.

So the Baboon did not see any other way of punishing them, save through making them punish each other; he therefore said—

“Mouse, give Itkler satisfaction.”

The Mouse, however, pleaded not guilty. But the Baboon said, “Cat, bite the Mouse.” She did so.

He then put the same question to the Cat, and when she exculpated herself, the Baboon called to the Dog, “Here, bite the Cat.”

In this manner the Baboon questioned them all, one after the other, but they each denied the charge. Then he addressed the following words to them, and said—

“Wood, beat the Dog. Fire, burn the Wood. Water, quench the Fire. Elephant, drink the Water.

“Ant, bite the Elephant in his most tender parts.”

They did so, and since that day they cannot any longer agree with each other.

The Ant enters into the Elephant’s most tender parts, and bites him.

The Elephant swallows the Water. The Water quenches the Fire. The Fire consumes the Wood. The Wood beats the Dog. The Dog bites the Cat. And the Cat the Mouse.

Through this judgment Itkler got satisfaction, and addressed the Baboon in the following manner:— “Yes! Now I am content, since I have received satisfaction, and with all my heart I thank thee, Baboon, because thou hast exercised justice on my behalf, and given me redress.”

Then the Baboon said, “From to-day I will not any longer be called Jan, but Baboon shall be my name.”

Since that time the Baboon walks on all fours, having probably lost the privilege of walking erect through this foolish judgment.(?)

18. THE LION AND THE BABOON.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, pp. 14, 15.)

THE BABOON.

Thou hollow-cheeked son Of a hollow-cheeked one, My hollow-cheeked one! Who hast two hip-bones, High hip-bones, With which thou sittest on the edge of the rock, Thou whose face appears like the edge of a rock.

The Baboon, it is said, once worked bamboos, sitting on the edge of a precipice, and the Lion stole upon him. The Baboon, however, had fixed some round, glistening, eye-like plates on the back of his head. When, therefore, the Lion crept upon him, he thought, when the Baboon was looking at him, that he sat with his back towards him, and crept with all his might upon him. When, however, the Baboon turned his back towards him, the Lion thought that he was seen, and hid himself. Thus, when the Baboon looked at him, he crept upon him. Whilst the Baboon did this, the Lion came close upon him. When he was near him the Baboon looked up, and the Lion continued to creep upon him. The Baboon said (aside), “Whilst I am looking at him he steals upon me, whilst my hollow eyes are on him.”

When at last the Lion sprung at him, he lay (quickly) down upon his face, and the Lion jumped over him, falling down the precipice, and was dashed to pieces.

19. THE ZEBRA STALLION.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, p. 17.)

THE ZEBRA.

Thou who art thrown at by the great (shepherd) boys, Thou whose head the (kirrie’s) throw misses! Thou dappled fly, Thou party-coloured one, Who spiest for those, That spy for thee! Thou who, womanlike, Art full of jealousy.

The Baboons, it is said, used to disturb the Zebra Mares in drinking. But one of the Mares became the mother of a foal. The others then helped her to suckle (the young stallion), that he might soon grow up.

When he was grown up, and they were in want of water, they brought him to the water. The Baboons, seeing this, came, as they formerly were used to do, into their way, and kept them from the water.

While the Mares stood thus, the Stallion stepped forward, and spoke to one of the Baboons, “Thou gum-eater’s child!”

The Baboon said to the Stallion, “Please open thy mouth, that I may see what thou livest on.” The Stallion opened his mouth, and it was milky.

Then the Stallion said to the Baboon, “Please open thy mouth also, that I may see.” The Baboon did so, and there was some gum in it. But the Baboon quickly licked some milk off the Stallion’s tongue. The Stallion on this became angry, took the Baboon by his shoulders, and pressed him upon a hot, flat rock. Since that day the Baboon has a bald place on his back.

The Baboon said, lamenting, “I, my mother’s child, I, the gum-eater, am outdone by this milk-eater!”

THE ZEBRA.

Thou ǁari shrub (i.e., tough shrub, Dutch, “critdorn”), Thou who art of strong smell, Thou who rollest always in soft ground, Whose body retains the dust, Thou split kirrie of the shepherd boys, Thou split knob of a kirrie. Thou who drivest away by thy neighing The hunter who seeketh thee. Thou who crossest all rivers As if they were but one.

20. THE LOST CHILD.—[A Tale.]

(From Sir James E. Alexander’s “Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa,” vol. ii. pp. 234, 235.)

The children belonging to a kraal were playing at some little distance from the huts with bows and arrows; in the evening they all returned home, save one, a boy of five or six years old, who lingered behind, and was soon surrounded by a troop of baboons, who carried him up a mountain.

The people turned out to recover the boy, and for days they hunted after him in vain; he was nowhere to be seen; the baboons also had left the neighbourhood.

A year after this had occurred, a mounted hunter came to the kraal from a distance, and told the people that he had crossed at such a place the spoor of baboons, along with the footmarks of a child. The people went to the place which the hunter had indicated, and they soon saw what they were in search of, viz., the boy, sitting on a pinnacle of rock, in company with a large baboon. The moment the people approached, the baboon took up the boy, and scampered off with him; but, after a close pursuit, the boy was recovered. He seemed quite wild, and tried to run away to the baboons again; however, he was brought back to the kraal, and when he recovered his speech, he said that the baboons had been very kind to him; that they ate scorpions and spiders themselves, but brought him roots, gum, and wild raisins, seeing that he did not touch the two first-named delicacies, and that they always allowed him to drink first at the waters.

21. THE BABOON SHEPHERD.—[A Tale.]

(From Sir James E. Alexander’s “Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa,” vol. ii. pp. 229, 230.)

The Namaquas say that, not long ago, a man had brought up a young Baboon, and had made it his shepherd. It remained by the flock all day in the field, and at night drove them home to the kraal, riding on the back of one of the goats, which brought up the rear. The Baboon had the milk of one goat allowed to it, and it sucked that one only, and guarded the milk of the others from the children. It also got a little meat from its master. It held the office of shepherd for twelve moons, and then was unfortunately killed in a tree by a Leopard.

IV.

LION FABLES.

22. THE FLYING LION.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, pp. 3, 4.)

The Lion, it is said, used once to fly, and at that time nothing could live before him. As he was unwilling that the bones of what he caught should be broken into pieces, he made a pair of White Crows watch the bones, leaving them behind at the kraal whilst he went a-hunting. But one day the great Frog came there, broke the bones in pieces, and said, “Why can men and animals live no longer?” And he added these words, “When he comes, tell him that I live at yonder pool; if he wishes to see me, he must come there.”

The Lion, lying in wait (for game), wanted to fly up, but found he could not fly. Then he got angry, thinking that at the kraal something was wrong, and returned home. When he arrived, he asked, “What have you done that I cannot fly?” Then they answered and said, “Some one came here, broke the bones into pieces, and said, ‘If he wants me, he may look for me at yonder pool!’” The Lion went, and arrived while the Frog was sitting at the water’s edge, and he tried to creep stealthily upon him. When he was about to get hold of him, the Frog said, “Ho!” and, diving, went to the other side of the pool, and sat there. The Lion pursued him; but as he could not catch him he returned home.

From that day, it is said, the Lion walked on his feet, and also began to creep upon (his game); and the White Crows became entirely dumb since the day that they said, “Nothing can be said of that matter.”

23. THE LION WHO THOUGHT HIMSELF WISER THAN HIS MOTHER.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, pp. 31, 33.)

It is said that when the Lion and ǀgurikhoisip [12] (the Only man), together with the Baboon, the Buffalo, and other friends, were playing one day at a certain game, there was a thunderstorm and rain at ǂaroχaams. [13] The Lion and ǀgurikhoisip began to quarrel. “I shall run to the rain-field,” said the Lion. ǀGurikhoisip said also, “I shall run to the rain-field.” As neither would concede this to the other, they separated (angrily). After they had parted, the Lion went to tell his Mother those things which they had both said.

His Mother said to him, “My Father! that Man whose head is in a line with his shoulders and breast, who has pinching weapons, who keeps white dogs, who goes about wearing the tuft of a tiger’s tail, beware of him!” The Lion, however, said, “Why need I be on my guard against those whom I know?” The Lioness answered, “My Son, take care of him who has pinching weapons!” But the Lion would not follow his Mother’s advice, and the same morning, when it was still pitch dark, he went to ǂaroχaams, and laid himself in ambush. ǀGurikhoisip went also that morning to the same place. When he had arrived he let his dogs drink, and then bathe. After they had finished they wallowed. Then also the man drank; and, when he had done drinking, the Lion came out of the bush. The dogs surrounded him, as his mother had foretold, and he was speared by ǀgurikhoisip. Just as he became aware that he was speared, the dogs drew him down again. In this manner he grew faint. While he was in this state, ǀgurikhoisip said to the dogs, “Let him alone now, that he may go and be taught by his Mother.” So the dogs let him go. They left him, and went home as he lay there. The same night he walked towards home, but whilst he was on the way his strength failed him, and he lamented:

“Mother! take me up! Grandmother! take me up! Oh me! Alas!”

At the dawn of day his Mother heard his wailing, and said—

“My Son, this is the thing which I have told thee:—

“Beware of the one who has pinching weapons, Who wears a tuft of tiger’s tail, Of him who has white dogs! Alas! Thou son of her who is short-eared, Thou, my short-eared child! Son of her who eats raw flesh, Thou flesh-devourer; Son of her whose nostrils are red from the prey, Thou with blood-stained nostrils! Son of her who drinks pit-water, Thou water-drinker!”

24. THE LION WHO TOOK A WOMAN’S SHAPE.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, pp. 60, 65.)

Some women, it is said, went out to seek roots and herbs and other wild food. On their way home they sat down and said, “Let us taste the food of the field.” Now they found that the food picked by one of them was sweet, while that of the others was bitter. The latter said to each other, “Look here! this woman’s herbs are sweet.” Then they said to the owner of the sweet food, “Throw it away and seek for other”—(sweet-tasted herbs being apparently unpalatable to the Hottentot). So she threw away the food, and went to gather more. When she had collected a sufficient supply, she returned to join the other women, but could not find them. She went therefore down to the river, where the Hare sat lading water, and said to him, “Hare, give me some water that I may drink.” But he replied, “This is the cup out of which my uncle (the Lion) and I alone may drink.”

She asked again: “Hare, draw water for me that I may drink.” But the Hare made the same reply. Then she snatched the cup from him and drank, but he ran home to tell his uncle of the outrage which had been committed.

The Woman meanwhile replaced the cup and went away. After she had departed the Lion came down, and, seeing her in the distance, pursued her on the road. When she turned round and saw him coming, she sang in the following manner:—

“My mother, she would not let me seek herbs, Herbs of the field, food from the field. Hoo!”

When the Lion at last came up with the Woman, they hunted each other round a shrub. She wore many beads and arm-rings, and the Lion said, “Let me put them on!” So she lent them to him, but he afterwards refused to return them to her.

They then hunted each other again round the shrub, till the Lion fell down, and the Woman jumped upon him, and kept him there. The Lion (uttering a form of conjuration) said:

“My Aunt! it is morning, and time to rise; Pray, rise from me!”

She then rose from him, and they hunted again after each other round the shrub, till the Woman fell down, and the Lion jumped upon her. She then addressed him:

“My Uncle! it is morning, and time to rise; Pray, rise from me!”

He rose, of course, and they hunted each other again, till the Lion fell a second time. When she jumped upon him, he said:

“My Aunt! it is morning, and time to rise; Pray, rise from me!”

They rose again and hunted after each other. The Woman at last fell down. But this time, when she repeated the above conjuration, the Lion said:

“Hè Kha! Is it morning, and time to rise?”

He then ate her, taking care, however, to leave her skin whole, which he put on, together with her dress and ornaments, so that he looked quite like a woman, and then went home to her kraal.

When this counterfeit woman arrived, her little sister, crying, said, “My sister, pour some milk out for me.” She answered, “I shall not pour you out any.” Then the child addressed their Mother: “Mama, do pour out some for me.” The Mother of the kraal said, “Go to your sister, and let her give it to you!” The little child said again to her sister, “Please, pour out for me!” She, however, repeated her refusal, saying, “I will not do it.” Then the Mother of the kraal said to the little one, “I refused to let her (the elder sister) seek herbs in the field, and I do not know what may have happened; go therefore to the Hare, and ask him to pour out for you.”

So the Hare gave her some milk; but her elder sister said, “Come and share it with me.” The little child then went to her sister with her bamboo (cup), and they both sucked the milk out of it. Whilst they were doing this, some milk was spilt on the little one’s hand, and the elder sister licked it up with her tongue, the roughness of which drew blood; this, too, the Woman licked up.

The little child complained to her Mother: “Mama, sister pricks holes in me, and sucks the blood.” The Mother said, “With what lion’s nature your sister went the way that I forbade her, and returned, I do not know.”

Now the cows arrived, and the elder sister cleansed the pails in order to milk them. But when she approached the cows with a thong (in order to tie their fore-legs), they all refused to be milked by her.

The Hare said, “Why do not you stand before the cow?” She replied, “Hare, call your brother, and do you two stand before the cow.” Her husband said, “What has come over her that the cows refuse her? These are the same cows she always milks.” The Mother (of the kraal) said, “What has happened this evening? These are cows which she always milks without assistance. What can have affected her that she comes home as a woman with a lion’s nature?”

The elder daughter then said to her Mother, “I shall not milk the cows.” With these words she sat down. The Mother said therefore to the Hare, “Bring me the bamboos, that I may milk. I do not know what has come over the girl.”

So the Mother herself milked the cows, and when she had done so, the Hare brought the bamboos to the young wife’s house, where her husband was, but she (the wife) did not give him (her husband) anything to eat. But when at night time she fell asleep, they saw some of the Lion’s hair, which was hanging out where he had slipped on the woman’s skin, and they cried, “Verily! this is quite another being. It is for this reason that the cows refused to be milked.”

Then the people of the kraal began to break up the hut in which the Lion lay asleep. When they took off the mats, they said (conjuring them), “If thou art favourably inclined to me, O mat, give the sound ‘sawa’” (meaning, making no noise).

To the poles (on which the hut rested) they said, “If thou art favourably inclined to me, O pole, thou must give the sound ǂgara.” [14]

They addressed also the bamboos and the bed-skins in a similar manner.

Thus gradually and noiselessly they removed the hut and all its contents. Then they took bunches of grass, put them over the Lion, and lighting them, said, “If thou art favourably inclined to me, O fire, thou must flare up, ‘boo boo,’ before thou comest to the heart.”

So the fire flared up when it came towards the heart, and the heart of the Woman jumped upon the ground. The Mother (of the kraal) picked it up, and put it into a calabash.

The Lion, from his place in the fire, said to the Mother (of the kraal), “How nicely I have eaten your daughter.” The Woman answered, “You have also now a comfortable place!” * * *

Now the Woman took the first milk of as many cows as calved, and put it into the calabash where her daughter’s heart was; the calabash increased in size, and in proportion to this the girl grew again inside it.

One day, when the Mother (of the kraal) went out to fetch wood, she said to the Hare, “By the time that I come back you must have everything nice and clean.” But during her Mother’s absence, the girl crept out of the calabash, and put the hut in good order, as she had been used to do in former days, and said to the Hare, “When mother comes back and asks, ‘Who has done these things?’ you must say, ‘I, the Hare, did them.’” After she had done all, she hid herself on the stage. [15]

When the Mother (of the kraal) came home, she said, “Hare, who has done these things? They look just as they used when my daughter did them.” The Hare said, “I did the things.” But the Mother would not believe it, and looked at the calabash. Seeing it was empty, she searched the stage and found her daughter. Then she embraced and kissed her, and from that day the girl stayed with her mother, and did everything as she was wont in former times; but she now remained unmarried.

25. A WOMAN TRANSFORMED INTO A LION.

[A Tale.]

(From Sir James E. Alexander’s “Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa,” vol. ii. pp. 197, 198.)

Once upon a time a certain Hottentot was travelling in company with a Bushwoman, carrying a child on her back. They had proceeded some distance on their journey, when a troop of wild horses appeared, and the Man said to the Woman, “I am hungry; and as I know you can turn yourself into a Lion, do so now, and catch us a wild horse, that we may eat.”

The Woman answered, “You will be afraid.”

“No, no,” said the Man; “I am afraid of dying of hunger, but not of you.”

Whilst he was yet speaking, hair began to appear at the back of the Woman’s neck; her nails gradually assumed the appearance of claws, and her features altered. She sat down the child.

The Man, alarmed at the change, climbed a tree close by. The Woman glared at him fearfully, and going to one side, she threw off her skin petticoat, when a perfect Lion rushed into the plain. It bounded and crept among the bushes towards the wild horses, and springing on one of them, it fell, and the Lion lapped its blood. The Lion then came back to where the child was crying, and the man called from the tree, “Enough, enough! don’t hurt me. Put off your lion’s shape, I’ll never ask to see this again.”

The Lion looked at him and growled. “I’ll remain here till I die,” said the Man, “if you don’t become a woman again.” The mane and tail then began to disappear, the Lion went towards the bush where the skin petticoat lay; it was slipped on, and the woman, in her proper shape, took up the child. The Man descended and partook of the horse’s flesh, but never again asked the Woman to catch game for him.

26. THE LION AND THE BUSHMAN.

[A Tale.]

(From Sir James E. Alexander’s “Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa,” vol. ii. p. 51.)