Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/134

110 He did accordingly, and they came between the grave and Heitsi-eibib, who, when he saw this, jumped down from the raisin-tree, and ran quickly, but was caught at the grave. Then he said, “let me go, for I am a man who has been dead, that I may not infect you.” But the young wife said, “keep hold of the rogue.”

So they brought him home, and from that day he was fresh and hale.

Dr. Theophilus Hahn, the son of a missionary, who spent his youth among the Namaqua and learned to speak their language as soon as he did that of his parents, in his Tsuni-ǁGoam, the Supreme Being of the Khoikhoi, published in London in 1881, states that the Namaqua believe Tsui-ǁGoab, or Heitsi-eibib as otherwise called, to be a powerful and beneficent being, who lives in the red sky. There is also a powerful evil being, named ǁGaunab, who lives in the black sky and does harm to men, who on that account fear and worship him. In a series of combats with ǁGaunab, Tsui-ǁGoab was repeatedly overcome, but after every struggle grew stronger, till at last he killed ǁGaunab by a blow behind the ear. He was, however, wounded in the knee, and has been lame ever since, whence his name, the wounded knee. At early dawn the Namaqua look towards the east, and implore blessings from him.

Dr. Hahn asserts his belief that this myth originated in the apparent conflict between light and darkness at dawn, and he gives the reasons that led him to this conclusion, which are mainly philological. If this be correct, the myth had an origin as lofty in ideal as that of many of the Aryans, but other inquirers are inclined to attribute it to the existence of some prominent man in olden time, whose exploits became magnified and distorted in legends. As they believe the moon dies and comes to life again, they may very easily have imagined this great man of their race to have done the same, or the deeds of different individuals at different times may have become blended under one name, as in some Bantu traditions.