The story of the widow of the man killed while hunting, and her return to her own family or The widow's story
Metadata
Title
The story of the widow of the man killed while hunting, and her return to her own family or The widow's story
Collection
Lucy Lloyd |xam notebooks
Contributor
||kabbo (Jantje) (II)
Summary
The widow of the wounded man returns to her own family with her children. Various customs after death are explained, as well as what happens to widows (they have no-one to hunt for them and eat 'old' or 'bad' things and look 'ugly' as a result). There is some discussion about the type of man the widow would like to marry - one who will feed her and the children. There is much detail concerning daily life, hunting and the preparation and eating of food by men and women. There are many details and additions to the story noted on the verso pages. <i>The widow's lament, in which she says that she should like to cry herself to death; and does not want to eat food. Her mother-in-law comforts her. After the burial of the deceased, his widow returns home to her father, where her brothers receive her very well. She relates her sorrow to her family, and expresses her intention not to marry again, for fear of meeting with a husband who had not the good qualities of the deceased. A general conversation ensues, ending in an almost interminable description of springbok hunting, etc. (L II.-12. 1173-1243, 13. 1244-1314. 14. 1315-1396) </i>
Comments
1) Date on p.1276: 7 May; p.1315: 18 May; 1396: 19 September, 2) Insert stuck on p.1298v: words used for the dead, 3) p.1320v: a word for hard flesh which also means 'heavy', 4) p.1330v: a piece of wood that holds arrow-heads, 5) p.1353v: a spoon made of a springbok's horn, 6) p.1356v: the water pit in the story is <i>Oud Pits</i>, 7) p.1162v: the name of the bee in the grandfather's honey hole, 8) p.1368v: the springbok come from the west where the sun sets and go towards where it rises, 9) p.1370v: young men drive vultures from a dead springbok's skin, burn off the hair and old men eat it when there is no other food, 10) p.1383v: a hole (!hun) which is closed with a stone, 11) p.1386v: the |xam name of a house which is made of white stones instead of earth, 12) p.1395v: arrows break off in the springbok's legs as the troop goes along, 13) Pages 1397-1431 are blank, 14) See also <i>A man is wounded by another by accident when out after springbok</i> (from p.1180), 15) This story is found in Books II-13 and II-14
Contributions