- Page
- [Outa Karel and Little Jan—The Little Red Tortoise] Frontispiece
- [“The Stars’ Road”] 64
- [“The women with their babies on their backs, flew”] 81
- [The punishment of Broer Babiaan] 99
- [“‘Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I could swallow you.’”] 136
- [“The Ostriches ran faster and faster”] 144
Glossary.
- Awa-skin, skin slung across the back to carry babies in.
- Askoekies, cakes baked in the ash.
- Baas, master.
- Baasje (pronounced Baasie), little master.
- Babiaan, baboon.
- Berg schilpad, mountain tortoise.
- Biltong, strips of sun-dried meat.
- Bolmakissie, head over heels.
- Bossies, bushes.
- Broer, brother.
- Buchu, an aromatic veld herb.
- Carbonaatje, grilled chop.
- Dassie, rock-rabbit.
- Eintje, an edible veld root.
- Gezondheid! Your health!
- Haasje, little hare.
- Hamel, wether.
- Jakhals draaie, tricky turns.
- Kaross, skin rug.
- Kierie, a thick stick.
- Klein koning, little king.
- Kneehaltered, hobbled.
- Kopdoek, turban.
- Kopje, hill.
- Krantz, precipice.
- Kraal, enclosure.
- Lammervanger, eagle.
- Leeuw, lion.
- Maanhaar, mane.
- Mensevreter, cannibal.
- Neef, nephew.
- Nooi, lady or mistress.
- Nonnie, young lady, miss.
- Oom, uncle.
- Outa, old man, prefix to the name of old natives.
- Pronk, show off.
- Reijer, heron.
- Riem, leathern thong.
- Rustband, couch.
- Sassaby or Sessebe, a South African antelope.
- Schelm, rogue; sly.
- Schilpad, tortoise.
- Sjambok, whip of rhino or hippo hide.
- Skraal windje, fine cutting wind.
- Skrik, to be startled; also fright.
- Slim, cunningly clever.
- Smouse, pedlar.
- Soopje, tot.
- Taai, tough.
- Tante, aunt.
- Tarentaal, Guinea fowl.
- Tover, toverij, witchcraft.
- Vaabond, vagabond.
- Vlakte, plain.
- Voertsed, jumping aside suddenly and violently.
- Volk, coloured farm labourers.
- Volstruis, ostrich.
- Vrouw, wife.
- Vrouwmens, woman.
- Zandkruiper, sand-crawler.
I.
The Place and the People.
It was winter in the Great Karroo. The evening air was so crisp and cutting that one seemed to hear the crick-crack of the frost, as it formed on the scant vegetation. A skraal windje blew from the distant mountains, bringing with it a mingled odour of karroo-bush, sheep-kraals, and smoke from the Kafir huts—none, perhaps, desirable in itself, but all so blent and purified in that rare, clear atmosphere, and so subservient to the exhilarating freshness, that Pietie van der Merwe took several sniffs of pleasure as he peered into the pale moonlight over the lower half of the divided door. Then, with a little involuntary shiver, he closed the upper portion and turned to the ruddy warmth of the purring fire, which Willem was feeding with mealie-cobs from the basket beside him.