Notebooks

Story: Story of the Lion and the Jackals: another translation which is a little different

Title

Story of the Lion and the Jackals: another translation which is a little different

Collection

Summary

A fable, somewhat similar to the Hottentot one of the lion and the jackal who went to shoot elands ('Reynard the Fox in South Africa', p.3, etc.), was told in the Katkop dialect, by ≠kásin (L IV.-1. 3486-3515); from whose dictation another beginning of the same fable has also been written down (L IV.-1. 3485). A slightly different version, likewise given by ≠kásin, has only been hurriedly taken down in English (L IV.-1. 3484 rev.-3492 rev.). A Jackal shoots an eland on two days running, and on both occasions the Lion takes it away from him. The sorceress advises him to remain silent and stay at home and she makes all the bushes and water vanish so that an eland comes up to the house. The Jackal shoots the eland and the sorceress makes a mountain rise up with the eland dead upon it. The Lion wants jackal fat poured into his mouth and the Jackal drops a hot stone into the Lion's mouth below. His insides are burned up and he dies while running away.

Comments

1) A note regarding this story appears on the contents page of Book IV-1: '... given on a previous day. Translated and written down hastily. Klaas related it to me in Bushman, and a little Dutch. (This was abridged on the 1st page, and merely taken hurriedly down, in order not to lose it. It is a little different from the story on pp.3486-3515 rev., and should also be used, when one wants to give a fair representation of the whole story.)', 2) See also Story of the Lion and the Jackals and A fragment of a story about Lions and Jackals, 3) This story is found in Book IV-1