Notebooks

Story: The Mantis takes away the Tick's sheep (including Porcupine's speech concerning the coming of ||khwai-hemm)

Title

The Mantis takes away the Tick's sheep (including Porcupine's speech concerning the coming of ||khwai-hemm)

Collection

Summary

The visit of the Mantis to the houses of the Ticks, who, excepting one boy, have hidden themselves away in the fleeces of their sheep. Evil thoughts of the Mantis with regard to this boy, who is left in charge of the pots of food which are upon the fire. The return of the Ticks, their attack upon the Mantis, his flight home, his revenge upon the Ticks for their inhospitality and ill-treatment of him, the consequent destitution of the Ticks, which is lamented by the relatives of the Mantis, the monster //khwái-hemm is now, by the wish of the Mantis, unwillingly summoned by his daughter, the Porcupine, to swallow for them a portion of the Ticks’ flock of sheep, his fearful appearance and unlimited voracity...... he swallows the Mantis, and the brave |kwámmana as well, the fiery trial of the young sons of the Mantis and |kwámmana by the Porcupine, the monster ||khwái-hemm slain, the re-appearance of all the animals and things which had just been swallowed by him, the removal of the survivors from the place where he lay dead (L II.-32. 2916-2965, 33. 2966-3057, 34. 3058-3149). The monster //khwái-hemm’s speech to the Mantis and the reply of the latter are given separately (B XXIII. 2161-2210, 2234-2247). After fleeing the Ticks, |kaggen (the Mantis) goes to sleep and dreams that he takes away all the Tick's things while they sleep. He and the Ichneumon wake up and see that the Tick's things and sheep have been taken and are at |kaggen's house. |kaggen goes on to say how he and his family will behave in the future. |kaggen asks the Porcupine to fetch her father who devours things.

Comments

1) Story told to ||kabbo by his mother (!kui ang), 2) Date on p.2926: 31 July; p.2966: 5 August; p.3058: 11 August; p.3127: 15 August, 3) p.2926v: the expression 'old man' is similar to the Dutch Oud Oom, 4) p.2934v: |xam names for what the Dutch call August and what others call September, 5) pp.2950v & 2951v: ||kabbo heard about the monster ||khwai-hemm from his mother (!kui ang) who 'heard it down through her great (or great great) grandmother', 6) p.2960v: a note on ||xauken !ku, or what the |xam call the Korannas (because the latter kill people) and other |xam names for people who kill others, and those (!koi !kui) who do not and are 'good to their fellows', 7) p.2984v: |huntu !katt-!katten's other name, 8) p.2986v: Ticks are people looked at from 'afar', as people do not go to their houses, 9) p.2998v: houses are positioned around the sheep kraal, with bushes in a circle around the houses, 10) p.3018v: the hanging of meat to dry on bushes at the back of the house, 11) p.3023v: large white daisies which blossom in August and grow in Bushmanland, 12) p.3025v: the people's practice of moistening meat with the sheep's fat, 13) p.3034v: a spoon made from a sheep or springbok's horn, 14) p.3056v: the different ways men and women carry bags, 15) p.3069v: ||kabbo compares the monster's swallowing of portions of meat to Matilda's carrying dishes from kitchen to table at the Bleek and Lloyd residence, 16) p.3072v: the bowl made of ostrich's breast-bone used by 'Flat Bushmen' for soup or meat; when it dries out they cut a new one, 17) see also The Mantis and the Ticks and The Mantis and ||khwai-hemm, 18) p.3079v: terms for varying degrees of being full, 19) p.3087v: 'Flat Bushmen' use buckets (bought from the Dutch) and ostrich breast-bone vessels to pour soup into, 20) p.3118v: ||khwai-hemm is also called !kau ttu !kuiya; an untranslated account of what |kaggen says to the monster, 21) p.3119v: a translation of the previous verso page, of what |kaggen said to the monster, 22) p.3121v: the Porcupine's real father is ||khwai-hemm and her adopted father is |kaggen, 23) p.3124v: the spear in the story resembles the blade of an assegai, 24) pp.3130v & 3131v: see Men who run away fear greatly (on courage and cowardice), 25) p.3132v: the name for people who use their left arm and what it means (young |kaggen cuts with his left arm, as does his father), 26) p.3140v: the use of dry wood to make good fires, 27) p.3148v: when a 'Flat Bushman' dies his people travel away to a new house and leave the buried man at his old house, 28) This story is found in Books II-32, II-33, and II-34