THE GIRL'S STORY; THE FROGS' STORY.

Specimens of Bushman Folklore, by W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd, [1911], at sacred-texts.com

A girl formerly lay ill; she was lying down. She did not eat the food which her mothers[1] gave her. She lay ill.

She killed the children of the Water[2]; they were what she ate. Her mothers did not know that she did thus, (that) she killed the Water's children; (that) they were what she ate; she would not eat what her mothers were giving to her.

Her mother was there. They[3] went out to seek Bushman rice. They[4] spoke, they ordered a

[1. That is to say, her mother and the other women.

2. !kweiten ta ||ken has not seen these things herself, but she heard that they were beautiful, and striped like a |habba, i.e. zebra.

3. The Water was as large as a bull, and the Water's children were the size of calves, being the children of great things.

4. All the women, and all the children but one.]

child[1] to remain at home. The girl did not know (about) the child. And the old woman said that she must look at the things which her elder sister ate. And they left the child at home; and they went out to seek food (Bushman rice). They intended (?) that the child should look at the things which her elder sister ate.

The elder sister went out from the house of illness, (and) descended to the spring, as she intended again to kill a Water-child. The (Bushman) child was in the hut,[3] while she (the girl) did not know (about) the child. And she went (and) killed a Water-child, she carried the Water-child home. The (Bushman) child was looking; and she (the girl) boiled the Water-child's flesh; and she ate it; and she lay down; and she again went to lie down, while she (the child) beheld her. And she went to lie down, when she felt that she had finished eating. The child looked at her; and she lay down.

And her mother returned. The child told her mother about it; for her elder sister had gone to kill a handsome thing at the water. And her mother said: "It is a Water-child!" And her mother did not speak about it; she again went out to seek for Bushman rice.

And when she was seeking about for food, the clouds came up. And she spoke, she said: "Something is not right at home; for a whirlwind is bringing (things) to the spring. For something is not going on well at home. Therefore, the whirlwind is taking (things) away to the spring."

[1. A little girl, as big as a European child of 11.

2. Literally, "allowed" her to remain there.

3. In her mother's hut.]

Because her daughter killed the Water's children, therefore the whirlwind took them away to the spring. Something had not gone well at home, for her daughter had been killing the Water's children. That was why the whirlwind took them away to the spring. Because her daughter killed the Water's children, therefore the whirlwind took them away to the spring; because she had killed the Water's children.

The girl was the one who first went into the spring, and then she became a frog. Her mothers afterwards went into the spring; the whirlwind brought them to it, when she was already in the spring. She was a frog. Her mothers also became frogs; while the whirlwind was that which brought them, when they were on the hunting ground; the whirlwind brought them to the spring, when her daughter was already in the spring. She was a frog. And her mothers afterwards came; the whirlwind was that which brought them to it, when they were on the hunting ground. Meanwhile their daughter was in the spring; she was a frog.

Her father also came to become a frog; for the whirlwind brought her father-when he was yonder on the hunting ground-to the spring, (to) the place where his daughter was. Her father's arrows[1] altogether grew out by the spring; for the great whirlwind had brought them to the spring. He also altogether became a frog; likewise his wife, she also became a frog; while she felt that the whirlwind had brought them to the spring. Their things entered that spring (in which) they were. The

[1. All the family and their mats were carried into the spring, by the whirlwind, and all their things.]

things entered that spring, because they (the people) were frogs. Therefore it was that their things went into the spring, because they were frogs. The mats[1] (grew) out by the spring, like the arrows; their things grew out[2] by the spring.

[1. Mats of which the Bushmen make their huts (made from a thick grass or reed?).

2. These things that grow by the springs belonged to the first Bushmen, who preceded the present race, !kweiten ta ||ken says. Her mother told her this.]