Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/94

70 might first finish sheltering the hut, and (when) he beheld that his father sat down, then he would, afterwards, utter the other one's name, when he saw that his father had finished sheltering the hut.

“Therefore, when he beheld that his father finished sheltering the hut, then he exclaimed, ‘There it goes! Oh ǀérriten-ǃkuan-ǃkuan! there it goes! Oh ǃgau-ǃgaubu-ti! there it goes!’ And he scampered away, he ran home; while the other one began to lean over, and the other one fell down. He lay kicking (violently) upon the flat ground. Therefore the people's huts vanished away; the wind blew away their (sheltering) bushes, together with the huts, while the people could not see for the dust. Therefore, his (the wind's) mother came out of the hut (i.e. of the wind's hut); his mother came to raise him up; his mother grasping (him), set him on his feet. And he was unwilling, (and) wanted to lie still. His mother, taking hold (of him), set him upright. Therefore, the wind became still; while the wind had, at first, while it lay, made the dust rise.

“Therefore, we who are Bushmen, we are wont to say, ‘The wind seems to have lain down, for it does not gently blow = it blows very strongly).’ For, when it stands (upright), then it is wont to be still, if it stands; for it seems to have lain down, when it feels like this. Its knee is that which makes a noise, if it lies down, for its knee does make a noise.”

“The wind was formerly a person. He became a feathered thing (i.e. a bird). And he flew, while he no longer walked as formerly; for he flew, and he dwelt in the mountains (that is, in a mountain hole). Therefore he flew. He was formerly a person. Therefore he formerly rolled (a ball); he shot; while he felt that he was a person. He became a feathered thing; and then he flew, and he inhabited a mountain hole. And he was coming out of it, he flew about, and he returns home to it. And he comes to sleep in it; and he early awakes (and) goes out of it; he flies away; again he flies away. And he again returns home, while he feels that he has sought food. And he eats, about, about, about, about, he again returns home. And he, again, comes to sleep in it (that is, in his hole).”

The third story given here was taken down by Joseph M. Orpen, Esqre., British resident in Griqualand East, from the lips