A number of girls once went away from their homes early in the morning
for the purpose of getting imbola (the red clay with which they colour
their bodies and clothes). Among them was the daughter of a chief, a
very pretty girl. After they had collected the imbola, they were about
to return home, when one of them proposed that they should bathe in a
large pool of water that was there. To this they all agreed, and so
they went into the water and played about in it for a long time. At
last they dressed themselves again, and set out for home; but when they
had gone some distance, the chief’s daughter noticed that she had
forgotten one of her ornaments, which she had taken off when they went
to bathe. So she asked her cousin to return with her to get it. The
cousin refused. Then she asked another girl, and another, but one and
all refused to go back. She was thus obliged to return to the water
alone, while the other girls went home.
On arriving at the pool, a big ugly cannibal with only one leg came up
to her, caught her, and put her in his bag. She was so frightened that
she lay quite still. The cannibal then took her round to the different
villages and made her sing for him. He called her his bird. When he
came to a village he asked for meat, and when it was given to him he
said: “Sing, my bird.” But he would never open the bag so that any one
could see what sort of a bird he had.
When the girls reached home, they told the chief that his daughter had
reached the age of ntonjane, and they selected one of themselves and
shut her up in a hut. The chief believed that story, and so he killed a
large ox and said the people must eat. That day they ate fat beef, and
were very merry. The boys took meat, and went away from the village to
eat it.
The cannibal, who did not know that the girl’s father was chief at this
place, came there just at this time. He said to the boys if they would
give him meat he would make his bird sing for them. So they gave him
meat, and he said: “Sing, my bird.” The girl’s brother was among those
boys, and he thought the bird sang like his sister, but he was afraid
to ask the cannibal to let him see. He advised the cannibal to go to
the village where the men were, and told him there was plenty of meat
that day.
The cannibal then went to the village and made his bird sing. The chief
wanted very much to see the bird, but the cannibal would not open the
bag. The chief offered him an ox for the bird, but the cannibal
declined the offer. Then the chief made a plan. He asked the cannibal
to go for some water, and said he would give him plenty of beef when he
returned. The cannibal said he would go if they would promise not to
open his bag while he was away. They all promised not to touch the bag.
They gave the cannibal a leaky pot to carry the water in, so that he
was gone a long time. As soon as he was out of sight the chief opened
the bag and took his daughter out. At first he could not believe it was
his daughter, for he thought she was observing ntonjane. But when he
knew how those other girls had deceived him he said they must all die,
and so they were killed. Then he put snakes and toads in the bag, and
tied it up again.
When the cannibal came back he complained of the leaky pot, but they
gave him plenty of meat to satisfy him, so he picked up his bag and
went away. He did not know what had happened while he was absent. When
he came near his own house he called to his wife: “Make ready to cook.”
He sent and called all the other cannibals to come to a feast, and they
came expecting to get something nice. He let them wait a little to get
very hungry. Then he opened his bag and thought to take the girl out,
but found only snakes and toads in it. The other cannibals were so
angry when they saw this, that they killed him and made their feast of
him.