Notebooks
Story: Lion and Tortoise
Title
Lion and Tortoise
Collection
Summary
[The two Lions !haue ta ≠hou and !gu] then hunted for food, but in vain. They perceived, at last, a male tortoise, and, notwithstanding its advice, as well as the request of his companion to be allowed to share this repast with him, the greedy !gu swallowed the tortoise down whole. In punishment of this, whenever the lion approached game or water, the tortoise told it to run away, or dry up; and when they came into the neighbourhood of human beings, the tortoise immediately called out to them to throw fire at the lion. Thus the two lions, while hunting together, could get nothing. They finally came to the house of an old woman who was lame, and lived with a little hare. These also managed to outwit the lions; and, at last, !gu died of starvation. After his death, the other lion soon obtained food... Another version of the latter part, dictated by /a!kúnta, but not yet finished (B XIV. 1362–1392), contains a long speech made by the tortoise, with its peculiar pronunciation, in which the clicks are converted into strongly explosive labials. The Tortoise is out seeking ostrich eggs. One of the two Lions catches it and swallows it whole and the Tortoise 'ascends' through the Lion's head and stands above the Lion's eyebrows. The Tortoise asks the Lion to get him water as he is thirsty. He tells the Lion to steal up on a person, but not as carefully as he would usually do because the people will not hear him, except for the one man who understands the night and all who hunt in it. An account of how the lion catches a person, carrying him away and eating him. People fear the lion as it will try to carry them away again, and they chase it with fire.
Comments
1) p.1362v: Note by W Bleek, 'Translated freely without Bushman's help'; a note about the language of the tortoise or the way it speaks: it talks with its 'mouth's skin' and not its tongue, 2) p.1364v: an insert dictated by |a!kunta and taken by Lloyd in February 1873, 'It is a little tortoise which has been swallowed whole by a Lion; it comes out of the Lion's stomach and stands on his eyebrow; and then leads him to all sorts of disappointments, in the way of food...', 3) See also The Lions, the Tortoise, the little Hare and the old woman and The Lion and the Tortoise (in Lloyd's notebooks), 4) This story is found in Book XIV
Contributors
Date
1872 or 1873
Categories
Keywords
Tortoise (Lion and) , Tortoise (and |kaggen) , Tortoise ('great') , Tortoise (out hunting for ostrich eggs) , Tortoise (spoils the Lion's hunting) , Tortoise (leads the Lion to disappointments) , Tortoise (stands above the Lion's eyebrows) , Tortoise (swallowed whole by the Lion) , Tortoise ('heart' of is thirsty) , Tortoise (language of) , Tortoise (talks with 'inside' of mouth) , Tortoise (talks with 'mouth's skin') , Tortoise (the speech of) , Tortoise (way of talking of) , Tortoise (does not talk with its tongue) , Lion (and Tortoise) , Lion (of the two Lions !haue ta ≠hóu and !gu) , Lion (doings of) , Lion (actions of) , Lion (kills a Bushman) , Lion (people fear) , Lion (the Tortoise stands above the eyebrows of) , Lion (people chase) , Lion (habits of) , Lion (swallows the Tortoise whole) , Lion (eyebrows of) , Lion (eyebrow hair of) , Lion (hunting disappointments of) , grown-up person ('knows the night') , grown-up person ('does not sleep') , grown-up person ('knows the things that walk at night') , beasts of prey (walk at night) , beasts of prey (doings of) , beasts of prey (actions of) , |kaggen (the Mantis) , |kaggen (and the Tortoise) , night (a grown-up person 'knows the night') , night (a grown-up person 'does not sleep') , night (a grown-up person 'knows the things that walk at night') , names (of the two Lions) , names (Lion and Tortoise) , hunting (disappointments of the Lion) , hunting (Lion and Tortoise) , speech (of Tortoise) , speech (Lion and Tortoise) , speech (the Tortoise talks with 'inside' of mouth) , speech (the Tortoise talks with 'mouth's skin') , speech (the Tortoise does not talk with its tongue)
Story Pages
1362-1392
