The Crow's story: the Crows are sent out to search for husbands, or, The !kagen ka Kkomm's story and the |hunn ta kkomm's story (including What happened when the !kagen found the missing men, p.3995)
Metadata
Title
The Crow's story: the Crows are sent out to search for husbands, or, The !kagen ka Kkomm's story and the |hunn ta kkomm's story (including What happened when the !kagen found the missing men, p.3995)
Collection
Lucy Lloyd |xam notebooks
Contributor
!kweiten ta ||ken (Rachel) (VI)
Summary
<i>Bushman women send out crows to ascertain what has become of their husbands, who have not returned from hunting; they hang fat round the necks of the crows as food for their journey. Hence the crows have white patches on neck or breast. This tragic legend (the husbands having been killed) is in the Katkop dialect, told by Dia!kwãin, as he heard it from his mother ≠kámme-an, and is written down by L. (BXXVI.2473-2486). A curious version of this story, in the same dialect, given in three separate portions by !kwéiten ta //kên (L VI.-2. 3975-3996), shows that it ought rather to be put among the fables. </i>Men go out to hunt and stones roll down the mountain to bury them. Two Crows are sent out to search for the missing hunters. The !kagen Crow sees the men and tells the stones to part. It tells the men to return home as their families are starving. This story includes comments on the sweetness of the bee's urine while the young Dassie's urine is bitter.
Comments
1) p.3975 opp: !kweiten ta ||ken heard this story from her mother (≠kamme-an), 2) See also <i>Crows and secretary birds</i>, 3) This story is found in Book VI-2
Contributions