Author(s): Wilhelm H. I. Bleek (1827-1875)
Year: 1864 [public domain]
Internet Archive: Always available.
Stories (42): The Lion's Defeat / The Hunt of the Lion and Jackal / The Lion's Share / The Jackal's Bride / The White Man and the Snake / The Dutchman and the Snake / Cloud-Eating / Fish-Stealing / Which Was the Thief? / The Lion's Illness / The Dove and the Heron / The Cock / The Leopard and the Ram / The Elephant and the Tortoise / The Giraffe and the Tortoise / The Tortoises Hunting the Ostriches / The Judgment of the Baboon / The Lion and the Baboon / The Zebra Stallion / The Lost Child (a Tale) / The Baboon Shepherd (a Tale) / The Flying Lion / The Lion who Thought Himself Wiser than his Mother / The Lion who took a Woman's Shape / A Woman Transformed into a Lion / The Lion and the Bushman (a Tale) / How a Nama Woman outwitted the Elephants / A Bad Sister / Why Has the Jackal a Long Black Stripe on his Back? / The Horse Cursed by the Sun / The Origin of Death, version 1 / The Origin of Death, version 2 / The Origin of Death, version 3 / The Origin of Death, version 4 / The Origin of Death, Zulu version / Heitsi Eibip / The Victory of Heitsi Eibip, version 1 / The Victory of Heitsi Eibip, version 2 / The Raisin-Eater / Origin of the Difference in Modes of Life between Hottentots and Bushmen / The Little Wise Woman / The Unreasonable Child. I have included one story below: The Lion Who Took a Woman's Shape.
Style: These are somewhat stilted translations, sometimes very literal but also with old-fashioned language (thee, thou, etc.)
Storytellers: Information about the storytellers is not provided, although Bleek does credit the different sources he used.
Additional Information: This is an extremely important collection of Khoekhoe (Hottentot) stories drawn from a variety of sources, most importantly the collection of Nama stories made in Namibia by the missionary Johann Georg Kroenlein (1826-1892). Bleek is best known for his later work with San storytellers, documenting the San language through his work with ||kabbo and other San-speakers, but his earlier work on Khoekhoe language and culture is also of great importance. Bleek also prepared one of the first Zulu dictionaries, and in 1862 (shortly before the publication of this book of folktales), he published A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages. By titling this collection "Reynard the Fox in South Africa," Bleek was insisting on the high cultural value of these folktales, comparable to European storytelling traditions in which the fox (called Renard in French) is often the central trickster figure. At the time, many whites denied any cultural value of any kind to the native traditions of Africa, so already with the title of the book, Bleek was insisting on the value of these stories and the need to record and study them. There are so many excellent stories in this book that it was hard to choose just one; I may circle back around here later and add another one!
Story Title: The Lion Who Took a Woman's Shape
Tradition: This is a Nama story from Namibia.
Notes: About the sweet herbs that are thrown away, Bleek notes: "sweet-tasting herbs are apparently unpalatable to the Hottentot." The "shelf" in the story below was called a "stage" in Bleek's version, and he notes: "The stage is that apparatus in the background of the hut (built of mats) opposite the door, upon which the Hottentots hang their bamboos, bags of skins, and other things, and under which the women generally keep their mats." I have done light editing to the story, especially in the use of pronouns. I have left Bleek's use of the Afrikaans word kraal, but I have italicized it, and I have not said "mother of the kraal" every time as Bleek does. I have also repeated Bleek's phrase "counterfeit-woman" as a way to refer to the woman: she is variously referred to as woman, girl, daughter, sister, wife, and so on, but I thought it was helpful to refer to her periodically as counterfeit-woman just as a reminder that while she looks like a woman, she really is the lion! The one part of the story that I wish had more detail is when the mother and lion are shouting at each other while the lion is in the fire: the lion burned to death in that fire I am sure, in that "comfortable place" as the mother says mockingly, and if I were to tell the story I would definitely tell more about that, and I would also tell more about the husband refusing to take his wife back after this very disturbing incident (we only find out in the last sentence that the woman stays with her mother in the end).
Parallels: Compare the opposite story of a woman who becomes a lion in order to hunt, which is a story that Bleek included in this book: A Woman Transformed into a Lion.
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