II. Sun and Moon

The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky

The children were those who approached gently to lift up the Sun-armpit, while the Sun-armpit lay sleeping.

The children felt that their mother was the one who spoke; therefore, the children went to the Sun; while the Sun shone, at the place where the Sun lay, sleeping lay.

Another old woman was the one who talked to the other about it; therefore, the other one spoke to the other one’s children.* The other old woman said to the other, that, the other one’s children should approach gently to lift up the Sun-armpit, that they should throw up the Sun-armpit, that the Bushman rice might become dry for them, that the Sun might make bright the whole place; while the Sun felt that the Sun went (along), it went over the whole sky, it made all places bright; therefore, it made all the ground bright; while it felt that the children were those who had coaxed (?) him; because an old woman was the one who spoke to the other about it, therefore, the other one said: “O children! ye must wait for the Sun, that the Sun may lie down to sleep, for, we are cold. Ye shall gently approach to lift him up, while he lies asleep; ye shall take hold of him, all together, all together ye lift him up, that ye may throw him up into the sky.” They, in this manner, spoke; the old woman, in this manner, she spoke to the other; therefore, the other in this manner spoke to her, she also, in this manner, spoke to her children. The other said to her: “This (is the) story which I tell thee, ye must wait for the Sun.”

The children came, the children went away; the old woman said: ‘Ye must go to sit down, when ye have looked at him, (to see) whether he lies looking; ye must go to sit down, while ye wait for him.” Therefore, the children went to sit down, while the children waited for him; he lay down, he lifted up his elbow, his armpit shone upon the ground, as he lay. Therefore, the children threw him up into the sky, while they felt that the old woman had spoken to them. The old woman said to the children: “O children going yonder! ye must speak to him, when ye throw him up.” The old woman said to the children: “O children going yonder! ye must tell him, that, he must altogether become the Sun, that he may go forward, while he feels that he is altogether the Sun, which is hot; therefore, the Bushman rice becomes dry, while he is hot, passing along in the sky; he is hot, while he stands above in the sky.”

The old woman was the one who told the children about it, while she felt that her head was white; the children were listening to her, they were listening to their mamma, their mother; their mother told them about it, that which the old woman in this manner said: Therefore, they thought in this manner. Therefore, they went to sit down. An older child spoke to another, therefore, they went to sit down, while they waited for him (the Sun), they went to sit down. They arose, going on, they stealthily approached him, they stood still, they looked at him, they went forward; they stealthily reached him, they took hold of him, they all took hold of him together, lifted him up, they raised him, while he felt hot. Then, they threw him up, while he felt hot; they spoke to him, while he felt hot: “O Sun! thou must altogether stand fast, thou must go along, thou must stand fast, while thou art hot.”

The old woman said (that) they seemed to have thrown him up, he seemed to be standing fast above. They thus spoke, they in this manner spoke. Her (apparently the mother’s) husband said: “The Sun-armpit is standing fast above yonder, he whom the children have thrown up; he lay, he intended to sleep; therefore, the children have thrown him up.”

The children returned. Then, the children came (and) said: “(Our) companion who is here, he took hold of him, I also was taking hold of him; my younger brother was taking hold of him, my other younger brother was also taking hold of him; (our) companion who is here, his other younger brother was also taking hold of him. I said: ‘Ye must grasp him firmly.’ I, in this manner, spoke; I said: ‘Throw ye him up!’ Then, the children threw him up. I said to the children: ‘Grasp ye the old man firmly!’ I said to the children: ‘Throw ye up the old man!’ Then, the children threw up the old man; that old man, the Sun; while they felt that the old woman was the one who spoke.”

An older child spoke, while he felt that he was a youth; the other also was a youth, they were young men(?), they went to throw up the Sun-armpit. They came to speak, the youth spoke, the youth talked to his grandmother: “O my grandmother! we threw him up, we told him, that, he should altogether become the Sun, which is hot; for, we are cold. We said: ‘O my grandfather, Sun-armpit! Remain (at that) place; become thou the Sun which is hot; that the Bushman rice may dry for us; that thou mayst make the whole earth light; that the whole earth may become warm in the. summer; that thou mayst altogether make heat. Therefore, thou must altogether shine, taking away the darkness; thou must come, the darkness go away.’”

The Sun comes, the darkness goes away, the Sun comes, the Sun sets, the darkness comes, the moon comes at night. The day breaks, the Sun comes out, the darkness goes away, the Sun comes. The moon comes out, the moon brightens the darkness, the darkness departs; the moon comes out, the moon shines, taking away the darkness; it goes along, it has made bright the darkness, it sets. The Sun comes out, the Sun follows (drives away?) the darkness, the Sun takes away the moon, the moon stands, the Sun pierces it, with the Sun’s knife, as it stands; therefore, it decays away on account of it. Therefore, it says: “O Sun! leave for the children the backbone!” Therefore, the Sun leaves the backbone for the children; the Sun does so. Therefore, the Sun says that the Sun will leave the backbone for the children, while the Sun assents to him; the Sun leaves the backbone for the children; therefore, the moon painfully goes away, he painfully returns home, while he painfully goes along; therefore, the Sun desists, while he feels that the Sun has left for the children the backbone, while the Sun assents to him; therefore, the Sun leaves the backbone; while the Sun feels that the Sun assents to him; therefore, the Sun desists on account of it; he (the moon) painfully goes away, he painfully returns home; he again, he goes to become another moon, which is whole; he again, he lives; he again, he lives, while he feels that he had seemed to die. Therefore, he becomes a new moon; while he feels that he has again put on a stomach; he becomes large; while he feels that he is a moon which is whole; therefore, he is large; he comes, while he is alive. He goes along at night, he feels that he is the moon which goes by night, while he feels that he is a shoe*; therefore, he walks in the night.

The Sun is here, all the earth is bright; the Sun is here, the people walk while the place is light, the earth is light; the people perceive the bushes, they see the other people; they see the meat, which they are eating; they also see the springbok, they also head the springbok, in summer; they also head the ostrich, while they feel that the Sun shines; they also head the ostrich in summer; they are shooting the springbok in summer, while they feel that the Sun shines, they see the springbok; they also steal up to the gemsbok; they also steal up to the kudu, while they feel that the whole place is bright; they also visit each other, while they feel that the Sun shines, the earth also is bright, the Sun shines upon the path. They also travel in summer; they are shooting in summer; they hunt in summer; they espy the springbok in summer; they go round to head the springbok; they lie down; they feel that they lie in a little house of bushes; they scratch up the earth in the little house of bushes, they lie down, while the springbok come. been confined to a certain space at, and round his own dwelling, the rest of the country seemed as if the sky were very cloudy; as it looks now, when the Sun is behind thick clouds. The sky was black (dark?). The shining came from one of the Sun’s armpits, as he lay with one arm lifted up. When he put down his arm, darkness fell everywhere; when he lifted it up again, it was as if day came. In the day, the Sun’s light used to be white; but, at night, it was red, like a fire. When the Sun was thrown up into the sky it became round, and never was a man afterwards.

Translation of Notes

The First Bushmen * were those who first inhabited the earth. Therefore, their children were those who worked with the Sun. Therefore, the people who [later] inhabited their country, are those who say that the children worked, making the Sun to ascend, while they felt that their mothers had agreed together that they should throw up, for them, the Sun; that the Sun might warm the earth for them; that they might feel the Sun’s warmth, that they might be able to sit in the Sun.

When the first Bushmen had passed away, the Flat Bushmen inhabited their ground. Therefore, the Flat Bushmen taught their children about the stories of the First Bushmen.

The Sun had been a man, he talked; they all talked, also the other one, the Moon. Therefore, they used to live upon the earth; while they felt that they spoke. They do not talk, now that they live in the sky.

The Origin of Death; Preceded by a Prayer Addressed to the Young Moon

We, when the Moon has newly returned alive, when another person has shown us the Moon, we look towards the place at which the other has shown us the Moon, and, when we look thither, we perceive the Moon, and when we perceive it, we shut ouieyes with our hands, we exclaim: ‘ǃkábbi-ă yonder! Take my face yonder! Thou shalt give me thy face yonder! Thou shalt take my face yonder! That which does not feel pleasant. Thou shalt give me thy face,—(with) which thou, when thou hast died, thou dost again, living return, when we did not perceive thee, thou dost again lying down come,—that I may also resemble thee. For, the joy yonder, thou dost always possess it yonder, that is, that thou art wont again to return alive, when we did not perceive thee; while the hare told thee about it, that thou shouldst do thus. Thou didst formerly say, that we should also again return alive, when we died.”

The hare was the one who thusdid. He spoke, he said, that he would not be silent, for, his mother would not again living return; for his mother was altogether dead. Therefore, he would cry greatly for his mother.;

The Moon replying, said to the hare about it that the hare should leave off crying; for, his mother was not altogether dead. For, his mother meant that she would again living return. The hare replying, said that he was not willing to be silent; for, he knew that his mother would not again return alive. For, she was altogether dead.

And the Moon became angry about it, that the hare* spoke thus, while he did not assent to him (the Moon). And he hit with his fist, cleaving the hare’s mouth; and while he hit the hare’s mouth with his fist, he exclaimed: “This person, his mouth which is here, his mouth shall altogether be like this, even when he is a hare;† he shall always bear a scar on his mouth; he shall spring away, he shall doubling (?) come back. The dogs shall chase him; they shall, when they have caught him, they shall grasping tear him to pieces,‡ he shall altogether die.

“And they who are men, they shall altogether dying go away, when they die.§ For, he was not willing to agree with me, when I told him about it, that he should not cry for his mother; for, his mother would again live; he said to me, that, his mother would not again living return. Therefore, he shall altogether become a hare. And the people, they shall altogether die. For, he was the one who said that his mother would not again living return. I said to him about it, that they (the people) should also be like me; that which I do; that I, when I am dead, I again living return. He contradicted me, when I had told him about it.”

Therefore, our mothers said to me, that the hare was formerly a man; when he had acted in this manner, then it was that the Moon cursed him, that he should altogether become a hare. Our mothers told me, that, the hare has human flesh at his ǁkátten-ttú*; therefore, we, when we have killed a hare, when we intend to eat the hare, we take out the “biltong flesh” yonder, which is human flesh, we leave it; while we feel that he who is the hare, his flesh it is not. For, flesh (belonging to) the time when he formerly was a man, it is.

Therefore, our mothers were not willing for us to eat that small piece of meat; while they felt that it is this piece of meat with which the hare was formerly a man. Our mothers said to us about it, did we not feel that our stomachs were uneasy if we

one real biltong,i.e. the piece of flesh need not be cut into the usual oblong shape, but has this a priori. In other words, it is a muscle of this form, From my anatomical knowledge I can only find it to correspond to the musculus biceps femoris of the man. It will therefore be a muscle sitting rather high up the thigh (B of Figure).” ate that little piece of meat, while we felt that it was human flesh; it is not hare’s flesh; for, flesh which is still in the hare it is; while it feels that the hare was formerly a man. Therefore, it is still in the hare; while the hare’s doings are those on account of which the Moon cursed us; that we should altogether die. For, we should, when we died, we should have again living returned; the hare was the one who did not assent to the Moon, when the Moon was willing to talk to him about it; he contradicted the Moon.

Therefore, the Moon spoke, he said: “Ye who are people, ye shall, when ye die, altogether dying vanish away. For, I said, that, ye should, when ye died, ye should again arise, ye should not altogether die. For, I, when I am dead, I again living return. I. had intended, that, ye who are men, ye should also resemble me (and) do the things that I do; that I do not altogether dying go away. Ye, who are men, are those who did this deed; therefore, I had thought that I (would) give you joy. The hare, when I intended to tell him about it,—while I felt that I knew that the hare’s mother had not really died, for, she slept,—the hare was the one who said to me, that his mother did not sleep; for, his mother had altogether died. These were the things that I became angry about; while I had thought that the hare would say: ‘Yes; my mother is asleep.’”

For, on account of these things, he (the Moon) became angry with the hare; that the hare should have spoken in this manner, while the hare did not say: “Yes, my mother lies sleeping; she will presently arise.” If the hare had assented to the Moon, then, we who are people, we should have resembled the Moon; for, the Moon had formerly said, that we should not altogether die. The hare’s doings were those on account of which the Moon cursed us, and we die altogether; on account of the story which the hare was the one who told him. That story is the one on account of which we altogether die (and) go away; on account of the hare’s doings; when he was the one who did not assent to the Moon; when the Moon intended to tell him about it; he contradicted the Moon, when the Moon intended to tell him about it.

The Moon spoke, saying that he (the hare) should lie upon a bare place; vermin should be those who were biting him, at the place where he was lying; he should not inhabit the bushes; for, he should lie upon a bare place; while he did not lie under a tree. He should be lying upon a bare place. Therefore, the hare is used, when he springs up, he goes along shaking his head; while he shakes out, making to fall the vermin from his head, in which the vermin had been hanging; while he feels that the vermin hung abundantly in his head. Therefore, he shakes his head, so that the other vermin may fall out for him.

(This, among the different versions of the Moon and Hare story called “The Origin of Death”, has been selected on account of the prayer to the young Moon with which it begins.)

The Moon Is Not to Be Looked at When Game Has Been Shot

We may not look at the Moon, when we have shot game; for, we look, lowering our head, while we do not look up, towards the sky; while we are afraid of the Moon’s shining. It is that which we fear. For, our mothers used to tell us about it, that the Moon is not a good person, if we look at him.

For, if we look at him, when we have shot game, the beasts of prey will eat the game, when the game lies dying, if we look at the Moon. When the game does not die, the Moon’s water is that which causes the game to live. For, our mothers used to tell us about it, that, the Moon’s water yonder, (that) we see, which is on a bush, it resembles liquid honey. It is that which falls upon the game; the game arises, when it has fallen upon the game. It makes cool the poison with which we shot the game; and the game arises, it goes on, while it does not show signs of poison*; even if it had appeared as if it would die. The Moon’s water is that whichcures it. And it lives, on account of it.

Therefore, our mothers did not wish us to be looking about, we should not look at the things which are in the sky; while our mothers used to tell us about it, that the Moon, if we had looked at him, the game which we had shot, would also go along like the Moon. Our mothers said to us about it, did we not see the Moon’s manner of going? he was not in the habit of going to a place near at hand, for, the day was used to break, while he was still going along. The game would also do the same, if we had looked at the Moon. The day would break, while the game was still going along; while it resembled the Moon, at which we had looked. Therefore, we feared to look at the Moon; while we felt that our mothers used to tell us about it, that the game would desire to take us away to a place where no water was. We could(?) go to die of thirst, while it, leading us astray, took us away to a place where

no water was.