Moon and Hare: the origin of death

Moon and Hare: the origin of death

Wilhelm Bleek notebooks

≠kasin (Klaas Katkop) (IV)

The veritable Hottentot myth of the "Origin of Death" is told in the Katkop dialect by #kásin, whose father was a Hottentot; and, although the narrator says that he heard the story from his mother yoa ≠ko, a Bushwoman, its Hottentot origin can hardly be doubted. Here, the Moon sends the Hare to men with the message of the renewal of life; but it reverses it into a message of death. The angered Moon then heats a stone, and burns the Hare's mouth, causing the harelip. - #kásin, told this story three times; -once in a very short version (B XXV. 2361-2364), and thirdly, in a still more extended one (L IV. -4. 3890-3900).

1) Namaqua vocabulary appears on many of the verso pages of this story, 2) This story is found in Book XXV

story

November 1873 (finished 6 November)

Celestial bodies and aeroscopy

Moon ( and the Hare and the origin of death )

Moon ( burnt the Hare's mouth )

Moon ( fights the Hare with a stone )

Moon ( his message about resurrection )

Moon ( returns to life )

Hare ( and the Moon and the origin of death )

Hare ( talked backwards )

Hare ( and the origin of the harelip )

Hare ( spoke 'incorrectly' )

Hare ( contradicted the Moon )

Hare ( mouth of was burnt )

Hare ( appearance of )

Hare ( little )

Hare ( gets the Moon's message wrong and tells people that they will 'thoroughly' die )

death ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of )

death ( creation of )

death ( the Hare gets the Moon's message wrong and tells people that they will 'thoroughly' die )

death ( dead 'remain so' )

death ( of people who must return to life after dying )

death ( of animals )

death ( and resurrection )

resurrection ( and the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

resurrection ( of the Moon )

resurrection ( the Moon's message about )

resurrection ( people must return to life after dying )

fight ( of the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

fight ( and the Moon's burning of the Hare's mouth with a heated stone )

animals ( death of )

animals ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

animals ( 'thoroughly' die )

speech ( of the Hare )

speech ( the Hare talked backwards )

speech ( the Hare spoke 'incorrectly' )

speech ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

stone ( the Moon burns the Hare's mouth with a heated stone )

stone ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

harelip ( the origin of )

harelip ( and the Moon burning of the Hare's mouth with a heated stone )

harelip ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

origin ( of death )

origin ( of the harelip )

origin ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

creation ( of death )

creation ( the Moon and the Hare and the origin of death )

2361-2364