<i>The Mantis (/kaggen) makes and brings up a young eland. /kwámmana, who is informed of its existence by the Ichneumon, kills it, to the grief of /kaggen. The latter, having pierced the gall of the dead eland, takes an ostrich feather to wipe it from his eyes, which feather he then throws up into the sky, ordering it to become the Moon. A description of porcupine hunting, in which the moonlight is of service, follows. This story, which /han≠kass'o had from his mother, /Xabbi-an, throws light upon one or two points which had remained somewhat obscure in the versions earlier collected (L VIII.-6. 6506-6595 1/2). </i>|kaggen (the Mantis) takes one of |kwammana's shoes and soaks it in the water. It grows into an eland and |kaggen returns to look at it again and again. The Ichneumon sees the eland while he is pretending to sleep and tells his father (|kwammana) about the eland. While |kaggen is away, |kwammana kills the eland. |kaggen is angry with the people for killing the eland without telling him, as he is the one who made it. He pierces a gall, which breaks and covers him so that he can no longer see. He finds a feather, which he picks up and throws into the sky and which becomes the Moon.
Comments
1) This story was translated by Dorothea Bleek in 1914, 2) p.6505opp: |han≠kass'o heard this from his mother (≠kammi-an), 3) p.6508v: a noise made when hunting springbok, 4) p.6546v: the name of !ko !nuin tata's sister, who was one of the Early Race (or !xwe ||na ss'o !kui), 5) p.6576v: see <i>The coming of lion</i>, 6) This story is found in Book VIII-6
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