<i>The account of the Mantis when he takes away the eggs of a certain fabulous bird, named !káken!káka káuï, is very curious. This bird has the power of making one of its eggs (and also the brush-spoon with which the egg is eaten) adhere, in the most comical manner, to the mouth of the Mantis, as well as the whole load of eggs to his back, whence they cannot be removed until all the eggs are humbly carried back by the robber to the magic bird's nest. Of this story we have two versions, a shorter one (L II.-6. 677-715, 7. 716-737), the end of which (where the Mantis brings home real ostrich eggs) is prolonged into an account of 'Ostriches and Bushmen', and a longer one, which //kábbo had from his mother, !kwí-añ; and which includes another discourse from the Ichneumon (L II.-22. 1965-2042, 23. 2043-2134, 24. 2135-2212). </i>The Ichneumon continues his discourse to |kaggen (the Mantis) after he has taken !kaken-!kaka-!k'aui's eggs. In it he tells of the doings of animals and of plants in different seasons; about bees, honey and flowers; about the preparation of food; also a lengthy account of the hunting of springbok and ostriches.
Comments
1) Inside the front cover (of Book II-23) Lloyd writes: 'Had not been at all well, and all October had done very little Bushman'; parts of this story were translated later in 1912 and 1913 (see the note inside the front cover of Book II-24), 2) This story follows on from <i>The Mantis and !kaken !ka!ka !khauwi</i> (see also), 3) Date on p.2045: 14 October ('... having not been well enough to go on for many days until today ...'); p.2133: 18 November, 4) p.2044v: after new year the ||khwai<i> </i>star comes; after a trip to Kalk Bay in February ||kabbo speaks of winter's stars 'great' and 'little'; Pleiades comes out and is followed by 'winter's stars', 5) p.2047v: the flowers of the <i>!kui</i> thorn (which are eaten by ostriches), 6) p.2050v: a note on the ||khwai star is to be found on p.799 of <i>Specimens of Bushman Folklore</i>, 7) p.2051v: the foliage which appears in abundance when the ||khwai star comes, 8) p.2054v: the Dutch call the !khui thorn Di Doorn, 9) p.2063v: beating thin the 'harpoon' of the arrow, 10) p.2150v: the river bed in the story is the 'other Haar River', 11) p.2173v: the bitter water in the waterhole is 'brack water' or |ßkhau-wa, 12) p.2174v: the rain comes in the 'rainy time', or //hau, 13) See also <i>The Mantis and !kaken-!kaka-!k'aui (another version)</i>, 14) This story is found in Books II-22, II-23, and II-24
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