Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/53

Rh Again, the wives of a man, if his father is still living, do not show him respect with their mouth only; there are many acts which must not be performed on account of hlonipa; thus: if a woman comes from (somewhere) outside the kraal, when she is in the act of entering the gateway, she turns her petticoat round (i.e. the front to the back) and (also) hides her breasts and her chest, because, it is said, it is a disgrace that the father of a man should see the breast of his daughter-in-law, she going near him with her breasts (uncovered) just as a young woman might do with her husband. When she comes out, she has to turn her petticoat round so that it comes to her back; but if her husband's father is seated beside the gateway, she must turn it in like manner to the side. And she must put on her head a fillet of beads, out of respect for her husband's father. Again, she must not enter the cattle-kraal, because of her father-in-law entering it, lest they enter it both together. If the daughter-in-law requires fresh cow-dung (ubulongwe—for smearing the hut-floors) she stands at the doorway and calls one of the children to give her some; if there is no child on the spot, she calls one of the women who are entitled to enter; and if there is none, she sends her husband to fetch some for her. Furthermore, the daughter-in-law, if she enters the hut of her husband's father, does not go to the isilili of her father-in-law; she goes to sit on that of her husband's mother, because the seat of the father-in-law is gone to by the husband's mother, he (the husband) having married the daughter-in-law only. And even if the husband's father is dead, the daughters-in-law do not occupy the whole house, they know still that it was the father-in-law's place while he was yet living; even though he is now no longer there, it is still his place. After this fashion is the hlonipa of the black men.

Furthermore, the husband's brothers are treated with great respect by his wife, especially the elder ones by the