--- title: The Story of Hlakanyana. — Kaffir folk-lore · full text with trees description: The Story of Hlakanyana., «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Once upon a time there was a village with many women in it. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / The Story of Hlakanyana. # The Story of Hlakanyana. The Story of Hlakanyana. of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal: the whole text, 433 sentences and 5282 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/page/2/) [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/page/3/) Once upon a time there was a village with many women in it.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") All the women had children at the same time except the wife of the chief.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") The children grew, and again all the women gave birth to others.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") Only the wife of the chief had no child.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the people said: “Let us kill an ox, perhaps the wife of the chief will then bear a child.”[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") While they were killing the ox, the woman heard a voice saying: “Bear me, mother, before the meat of my father is all finished.”[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") The woman did not pay any attention to that, thinking it was a ringing in her ears.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") The voice said again: “Bear me, mother, before the meat of my father is all finished.”[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") The woman took a small piece of wood and cleaned her ears.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") She heard that voice again.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she became excited.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") She said: “There is something in my ears; I would like to know what it is.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") I have just now cleaned my ears.”[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") The voice said again: “Make haste and bear me, mother, before the meat of my father is all finished.”[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") The woman said: “What is this? there was never a child that could speak before it was born.”[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") The voice said again: “Bear me, mother, as all my father’s cattle are being finished, and I have not yet eaten anything of them.”[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the woman gave birth to that child.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") When she saw that to which she had given birth, she was very much astonished.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") It was a boy, but in size very little, and with a face that looked like that of an old person.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") He said to his mother: “Mother, give me a skin robe.”[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") His mother gave him a robe.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he went at once to the kraal where the ox was being killed.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") He asked for some meat, saying: “Father, father, give me a piece of meat.”[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief was astonished to hear this child calling him father.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") He said: “Oh, men, what thing is this that calls me father?”[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") So he continued with the skinning of the ox.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") But Hlakanyana continued also in asking meat from him.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief became very angry, and pushed him, and said: “Get away from this place.”[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana answered: “I am your child, give me meat.”[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief took a little stick, and said: “If you trouble me again, I will strike you with this.”[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana replied: “Give me meat first, and I will go away;” but the chief would not answer, because he was very angry.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana continued asking.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the chief threw him outside the kraal, and went on with his work.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") After a little time, the child returned, still asking.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") So the chief said to the men that were with him: “What strange thing is this?”[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") The men replied: “We don’t know him at all.”[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief asked of them also advice, saying: “What shall I do?”[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") The men replied: “Give him a piece of meat.”[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") So the chief cut off a piece of meat and gave it to him.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana ran to his mother and gave the meat to her to be cooked.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he returned to his father, and said again: “Father, give me some meat.”[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief just took him and trampled upon him, and threw him outside of the kraal, thinking that he was dead.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") But he rose again and returned to his father, still saying: “Father, give me some meat.”[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the chief thought to get rid of him by giving him meat again.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief gave him a piece of liver.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana threw it away.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") Fat was then given to him.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") He put it down on one side.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") Flesh was then given to him, and a bone with much marrow in it.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana said: “I am a man to-day.”[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") He said: “This is the beginning of my father’s cattle.”[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") At this time the men were saying to each other: “Who will carry the meat to our huts?”[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana answered: “I will do it.”[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") They said: “How can such a thing as you are carry meat?”[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana replied: “I am stronger than you; just see if you can lift this piece of meat.”[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") The men tried, but could not lift it.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Hlakanyana took the piece of meat and carried it out of the kraal.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") The men said: “That will do now, carry our meat for us.”[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana took the meat and carried it to the house of his mother.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") He took blood and put it on the eating mats at the houses of the men.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") The men went to their houses, and said: “Where is our meat?”[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") They called Hlakanyana, and asked him what he had done with the meat.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") He replied: “Surely I put it here where the blood is.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") It must have been taken by the dogs.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") Surely the dogs have eaten it.”[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") Then those men beat the women and children because they did not watch that the dogs did not take the meat.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") As for Hlakanyana, he only delighted in this trick of his.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") He was more cunning than any of the old men.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana said to his mother, that she must put the meat in the pot to cook, but that it must not be eaten before the next morning.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") It was done.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") In the night this cunning little fellow rose and went to the pot.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") His mother heard something at the pot, and struck with a stick.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana cried like a dog.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") His mother said: “Surely a dog is eating the meat.”[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana returned afterwards, and left nothing but bones in the pot.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") In the morning he asked his mother for meat.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") His mother went to the pot, and found nothing but bones.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") The cunning little fellow pretended to be astonished.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") He said: “Where is the meat, mother?”[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") His mother replied: “It has been eaten by a dog.”[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana said: “As that is so, give me the bones, for you who are the wife of the chief will not eat from the same pot with a dog.”[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") His mother gave him the bones.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana went to sleep in the same house with the boys.[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") The boys were unwilling to let him sleep with them.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") They laughed at him.[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") They said: “Who are you?[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") You are just a child of a few days.”[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana answered: “I am older than you.”[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") He slept there that night.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") When the boys were asleep, he got up and went to the cattle kraal.[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") He killed two cows and ate all their insides.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") He took blood and smeared it on one of the boys who was sleeping.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") In the morning the men found those two dead cows.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") They said: “Who has done this thing?”[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") They found the boy with blood upon him, and killed him, because they thought he was the robber.[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana said within himself: “I told them that I was older than they are; to-day it is seen who is a child and who is a man.”[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") Another day the father of Hlakanyana killed an ox.[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") The head was put in a pot to be cooked.[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Hlakanyana considered in his mind how he could get that meat.[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") So he drove all the cattle of the village into a forest, a very thick forest, and tied them by their tails to the trees.[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") After that he cut his arms, and legs, and breast, with a sharp stone, and stood on a hill, and cried out with a loud voice: “The enemy has taken our cattle; the cattle are being driven away.[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") Come up, come up; there is an army going away with the cattle.”[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") The men ran quickly to him.[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") He said to them: “Why are you eating meat while the enemy is going away with the cattle?[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") I was fighting with them; just look at my body.”[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") They saw he was covered with blood, and they believed it was as he said.[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") So the men took their assagais and ran after the cattle, but they took the wrong way.[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") Only one old man and Hlakanyana were left behind.[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Hlakanyana said to the old man: “I am very tired with fighting; just go to the river, grandfather, and get some water.”[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") The old man went; and as soon as he was alone, Hlakanyana ate the meat which was in the pot.[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") When the old man returned with the water he was very tired, for the river was far for an old man to go to, therefore he fell asleep.[111](111/ "tree and pragmatics") When he was sleeping, Hlakanyana took a bone and put it beside the old man.[112](112/ "tree and pragmatics") He also took some fat and put it on the mouth of the old man.[113](113/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he ran to the forest and loosened the cattle that were tied by the tails.[114](114/ "tree and pragmatics") At this time the men were returning from seeking the enemy.[115](115/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana was coming also from the other side with the cattle.[116](116/ "tree and pragmatics") He shouted: “I have conquered the enemy.”[117](117/ "tree and pragmatics") He also said: “The meat must be eaten now.”[118](118/ "tree and pragmatics") When they opened the pot they found no meat.[119](119/ "tree and pragmatics") They found only dung, for Hlakanyana had filled the pot with dung.[120](120/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the men said: “Who has done this?”[121](121/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana answered: “It must be the old man who is sleeping there.”[122](122/ "tree and pragmatics") They looked, and saw the bone by the side of the old man, and the fat on his mouth.[123](123/ "tree and pragmatics") Then they said: “This is the thief.”[124](124/ "tree and pragmatics") They were intending to kill the old man because he had stolen the meat of the chief.[125](125/ "tree and pragmatics") When the children saw that the old man was to be killed, they said that he did not eat the meat of the chief.[126](126/ "tree and pragmatics") The men said: “We saw fat on his mouth and a bone beside him.”[127](127/ "tree and pragmatics") The children replied: “He did not do it.”[128](128/ "tree and pragmatics") The men said: “Tell us who did it.”[129](129/ "tree and pragmatics") The children answered: “Hlakanyana ate the meat and put dung in the pot.[130](130/ "tree and pragmatics") We were concealed, and we saw him do it.”[131](131/ "tree and pragmatics") Hlakanyana denied.[132](132/ "tree and pragmatics") He said: “Let me go and ask the women; perhaps they saw who ate the meat of the chief.”[133](133/ "tree and pragmatics") The men sent a young man with him to the women; but when they were a short distance away, Hlakanyana escaped.[134](134/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief sent an army after him.[135](135/ "tree and pragmatics") The army pursued, and saw Hlakanyana sitting by a bush.[136](136/ "tree and pragmatics") They ran to catch him.[137](137/ "tree and pragmatics") When they came to the bush, only an old woman was sitting there.[138](138/ "tree and pragmatics") They said to her: “Where is Hlakanyana?”[139](139/ "tree and pragmatics") The old woman replied: “He just went across that river.[140](140/ "tree and pragmatics") See, you must make haste to follow him, for the river is rising.”[141](141/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/page/2/) [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/page/3/) - ← previous: [The Story of Sikulume.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/9/) - next →: [page 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/10/page/2/) - ↑ back to [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/)