Notebooks
Story: The story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants
Title
The story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants
Collection
Summary
The !gwá–!nuntu, whose grandchild is carried off by Elephants, and recovered by himself. By /han#kass’o (L VIII.-4. 6334-6413, 5. 6414-6455). An account of !gwa !nuntu, a person of the Early Race (or a !xwe ||na ssho !kui), whose grandchild Ttau ho is taken by an Elephant and put inside her ear. !gwa !nuntu had been sleeping inside a hole and the child was left above the ground digging for food when the Elephant's party arrived. The Elephant replaces Ttau ho with a little Elephant and carries the grandchild away. When !gwa !nuntu awakes and tells the grandchild to dig, the little Elephant answers in a different voice and !gwa !nuntu realises it is not his grandaughter. He knocks down the little Elephant with his stick and goes to follow the Elephant's footprints at daybreak.He arrives at the Elephant's houses and they recognise him by the ostrich-feather brush he is carrying. The Mother Elephant puts the child back into her ear and the child slips down inside the Mother Elephant's body. !gwa !nuntu says he will enter the Mother Elephant's body in various ways and she threatens to kill him, but he jumps into her navel and puts the child on his back and carries her out through the back of the Mother Elephant's head, taking out the Elephant's heart with him. The Hyenas are 'menacing' !gwa !nuntu from below on the ground and he takes the child into the clouds where they carry him home. The daughter rejoices about the return of her child but questions why her father had slept, letting the Elephants take the child , and he answers that the approach of strangers had made him sleepy. He has washed himself and the child because the smell of the old Elephant's stomach was unpleasant. The daughter scolds !gwa !nuntu and he defends and explains himself at length.
Comments
1) Date on p.6438: 14 March , 2) p.6333v: this story was told to |han≠kass'o by his mother (|xabbi-an), 3) p.6365v: see When Bushmen were springbucks and cried, 3) p.6370v: see Personal history of |han≠kass'o, 4) p.6376v: the |xam names for various insects, 5) pp.6379v-6380v: see The approach of strangers makes Bushmen sleepy, 6) p.6422v: the |xam name for a certain bird found in Bushmanland and Beaufort West and a description of it, 7) This story is found in Books VIII-4 and VIII-5
Contributors
|han≠kass'o (Klein Jantje) (VIII)
Date
27 February – March 1878
Categories
Keywords
!gwa !nuntu (and the Elephants) , !gwa !nuntu (is bewitched into sleeping in the veld) , !gwa !nuntu (and the Elephant's chest) , !gwa !nuntu (and the old woman's chest) , !gwa !nuntu (tramples the Elephant's heart) , !gwa !nuntu (comes out of the back of the Elephant's head) , !gwa !nuntu (his daughter questions him) , !gwa !nuntu (his daughter's rebuke) , !gwa !nuntu (goes into the Elephant's stomach) , !gwa !nuntu (goes into the clouds) , !gwa !nuntu (and the Hyenas) , !gwa !nuntu (enters the Elephant's navel) , !gwa !nuntu (rescues the child) , !gwa !nuntu (carries an ostrich-feather brush) , !gwa !nuntu (his doings) , !gwa !nuntu (sleeps in a hole) , !gwa !nuntu (his daughter) , !gwa !nuntu (his granddaughter) , !gwa !nuntu (is old) , !gwa !nuntu (is foolish) , !gwa !nuntu (and his grandchild Ttau ho) , !gwa !nuntu (is one of the Early Race, the !xwe ||na ssho !kui) , Early Race (the First Bushmen) , Early Race (the !xwe ||na ssho !kui) , Early Race (and the story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , Elephants (!gwa !nuntu and) , Elephants (the smell of the Mother Elephant's stomach) , Elephants (the Mother who swallows !gwa !nuntu's child into her body) , Elephants (the house of) , Elephants (the children of) , Elephants (were people) , Elephants (their travelling party) , Elephants (the little Elephant) , Elephants (the Mother Elephant) , Elephants (the 'Old Woman') , Elephants (that steal !gwa !nuntu's child) , Elephants (their chests make !gwa !nuntu sleepy) , sleep (and sleepiness on the hunting-ground) , sleep (and magic, or bewitchment) , sleep (!gwa !nuntu and the 'Old Woman's' chest) , sleep (and the 'chest' of strangers) , sleep (and the approach of strangers) , sleep (in the veld) , sleep (!gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , Hyenas (menace !gwa !nuntu with sticks) , Hyenas (!gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , name (of the First Bushmen; the !xwe ||na ssho !kui) , name (of !gwa !nuntu's grandchild is Ttau ho) , name (and the story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , hunting–ground (sleeping on warned against) , hunting–ground (the approach of strangers make one sleepy) , hunting–ground (and magic, or bewitchment) , hunting–ground (the 'chest' of strangers) , hunting–ground (and the story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , strangers (the approach of makes people sleepy) , strangers (and magic, or bewitchment) , strangers (the 'chest' of strangers) , strangers (and the story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , children (of the Elephants) , children (and the story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants) , chest (of strangers) , chest (the Elephants' chests make !gwa !nuntu sleepy) , chest (the approach of strangers makes people sleepy) , chest (and the story of !gwa !nuntu and the Elephants)
Story Pages
6334-6413, 6414-6455
