Title

The Crow's story: the Crows are sent out to search for husbands, or, The !kagen ka Kkomm's story and the |hunn ta kkomm's story (including What happened when the !kagen found the missing men, p.3995)

Collection

Lucy Lloyd |xam notebooks

Summary

Bushman women send out crows to ascertain what has become of their husbands, who have not returned from hunting; they hang fat round the necks of the crows as food for their journey. Hence the crows have white patches on neck or breast. This tragic legend (the husbands having been killed) is in the Katkop dialect, told by Dia!kwãin, as he heard it from his mother ≠kámme–an, and is written down by L. (BXXVI.2473-2486). A curious version of this story, in the same dialect, given in three separate portions by !kwéiten ta //kên (L VI.-2. 3975-3996), shows that it ought rather to be put among the fables. Men go out to hunt and stones roll down the mountain to bury them. Two Crows are sent out to search for the missing hunters. The !kagen Crow sees the men and tells the stones to part. It tells the men to return home as their families are starving. This story includes comments on the sweetness of the bee's urine while the young Dassie's urine is bitter.

Comments

1) p.3975 opp: !kweiten ta ||ken heard this story from her mother (≠kamme-an), 2) See also Crows and secretary birds, 3) This story is found in Book VI-2

Contributors

!kweiten ta ||ken (Rachel) (VI)

Date

26 – 30 December 1874

Categories

History (Early Race)

Keywords

Crow's story (or !kagen ka Kkomm and |hunn ta kkomm's story) , Crow's story (and what happened when the !kagen found the missing men) , crows (different types of) , crows (the names of) , crows (and what happened when the !kagen found the missing men) , crows (the Crow's story) , crows (!kagen ka Kkomm) , crows (|hunn ta kkomm) , crows (are sent to search for husbands) , crows (fat is tied on their throats) , crows (and the missing men) , crows (the Crow who breaks stones) , crows (the Crow who travels far) , crows (the Crow who eats fat) , husbands (missing) , husbands (are buried under stones) , husbands (and !kagen) , husbands (!kagen finds and releases them) , husbands (curse Dassie) , husbands (and bee's water) , husbands (and Dassie's water) , husbands (are cursed by Dassie) , husbands (and Crow's story) , Dassie (the husbands curse) , Dassie (causes stones to cover men) , Dassie (her urine, water is bitter) , Dassie (and Crow's story) , Dassie (is cursed by husbands) , bee (its urine, water is sweet) , bee (and Crow's story) , names (of different types of crow) , names (the Crow's story) , curse (of Dassie by the husbands) , curse (of the husbands by Dassie) , curse (the Crow's story) , urine (the Dassie's water is bitter) , urine (water) , urine (the bee's water is sweet) , urine (the Crow's story) , fat (tied on the throat of the Crows) , fat (accounting for the white chest of the crow) , fat (the Crow's story)

Story Pages

3975-3996

Page Images