[4] The ǂ is the palatal click, described in Note to Fable 24, p. 55; and indicates the nasal pronunciation of a syllable. [↑]

[5] The ǃ is the cerebral click described in Note to Fable 27, p. 62. [↑]

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VIII.

HOUSEHOLD TALES.

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41. THE LITTLE WISE WOMAN.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, p. 53.)

A girl, it is said, went to seek for onions. As she arrived at the place where they grew, she met with some men, one of whom was blind (i.e., half-blind, having only one eye). As she dug (for the onions) the men helped her, digging also. When her sack was full, they said to her, “Go, tell the other girls, that many of you may come.” So she went home and told her companions, and early the next morning they started. But a little girl followed them. The other girls said, “Let the little girl go back.” But her elder sister protested against this, saying, “She runs by herself, you need not put her into your awa-skin.”

So they went all together, and having reached the onion-ground, began to dig. Now the little girl saw [[118]]traces of feet, and said to the one who had guided them thither, “Wonderful! whence so many traces? Were you not alone here?” The other replied, “I walked about and looked out; therefore they must of course be many.” The child, however, did not believe that if the other girl had been alone the traces could be many, and felt uneasy; for she was a wise little woman. From time to time she rose (from her work) and peeped about, and once, while doing this, found by chance an ant-eater’s hole. Still further spying about, she perceived some men, but they did not see her. She then returned and continued digging with the other girls, without, however, saying anything. But in the midst of their work she always rose and looked about her. So the others asked her, “Why do you always spy about you, and leave off digging? What a girl!” But she continued her work in silence. When she rose from it again, she saw the men approaching. As they drew near the One-eyed blew through a reed pipe the following air:—