Notebooks

Story: The story of the Springbok's kid, who was carried off by the Elephants (an incomplete account)

Title

The story of the Springbok's kid, who was carried off by the Elephants (an incomplete account)

Collection

Summary

The pet springbok of the Mantis carried off by an Elephant, while the Mantis is in a hole, digging out sweet food for it,–the Elephant substitutes her own calf, the inarticulate reply of the latter to the questions of the Mantis leads to the discovery of the deception, the Mantis kills the calf and follows the spoor of its mother. He recognizes his pet, who is immediately swallowed by the mother Elephant, dialogue, entry of the Mantis into the body of the elephant, notwithstanding the attacks of her companions, death of the Elephant, rescue of the young springbok, triumphant departure of the Mantis with his pet, through the midst of the angry and threatening elephants. This myth is in the Katkop dialect, and was told to Día!kwãin by his mother ≠kámme-an. It is partly written down by L. (B XXV. 2416-2424, 2429-2431, 2433 and 2434, XXVI.2435-2473). Fragments of this myth were also dictated in two portions by !kwéiten ta //kën (L VI.-1. 3883-3894).

Comments

1) The page numbers in this book (VI-1) are duplicates of those in notebook IV-4, 2) This story consists of two short fragments, 3) p.3883 opp: this story was told to !kweiten ta ||ken by her mother (≠kamme-an), 4) This story is found in Book VI-1