35. A ZULU VERSION OF THE LEGEND OF THE “ORIGIN OF DEATH.”
(From Manuscript, “Zulu Legends,” No. 214 of Sir G. Grey’s Library, vol. i. part i. p. 107.)
God (Unknlunkuln) arose from beneath (the seat of the spiritual world, according to the Zulu idea), and created in the beginning[3] men, animals, and all things. He then sent for the Chameleon, and said, “Go, Chameleon, and tell Men that they shall not die.” The Chameleon went, but it walked slowly, and loitered on the way, eating of a shrub called Bukwebezane.
When it had been away some time, God sent the Salamander after it, ordering him to make haste and tell Men that they should die. The Salamander went on his way with this message, outran the Chameleon, and, arriving first where the Men were, told them that they must die. [[107]]
[1] “We are now angry with the Hare,” say the old Namaqua, “because he brought such a bad message, and therefore we dislike to eat his flesh.”—Knudsen. [↑]
[2] Old Namaquas will not therefore touch Hare’s flesh; but the young men may partake of it; that is, before the ceremony of making them men is performed, which merely consists in slaughtering and eating an ox or a couple of sheep.—Alexander. [↑]
[3] Ohlangeni. Vide Colenso’s “Zulu-English Dictionary,” p. 179. [↑]