To appease the jealousy of the very black girl’s mother he also married that girl, and each of them received from her father an ox, with which they went to their new home.  But the young chief did not care for the very black girl and gave her an old rickety hut to live in while Mbulukazi had a very nice new house.  This made the other girl jealous, and she plotted revenge, which she carried out one day by pushing her rival over the edge of a rock, so that she fell into the river and was drowned.  The corpse was, however, found by her favorite ox, who licked her till her life came back, and as soon as she was strong once more she told what had happened.

When the young chief heard the story he was angry with the dark wife and said to her:  “Go home to your father; I never wanted you at all; it was your mother who brought you to me.”  So she had to go away in sorrow and Mbulukazi remained the great wife of the chief.

In this interesting story there are two suspicious details.  Theal says he has taken care in his collection not to give a single sentence that did not come from native sources.  He calls attention, however, to the fact that tens of thousands of Kaffirs have adopted the religion of Europeans and have accepted ideas from their teachers, wherefore “it will surprise no one to learn that these tales are already undergoing great changes among a very large section of the natives on the border.”  I suspect that the touch of sentiment in the place where the young chief will accept a drink from the girl’s hand alone is such a case of European influence, and so, in all probability is the preference for a light complexion implied in the tale; for Shooter (p.  I) tells us expressly that to be told that he is light-colored “would be esteemed a very poor compliment by a Kaffir.”

The following passage, which occurs in another of Theal’s stories (107), shows how unceremonious Kaffir “courtship” is in relation to the girl’s wishes.

     “Hlakanyana met a girl herding some goats.

     “He said:  ’Where are the boys of your village, that the
     goats are herded by a girl?’

     “The girl answered:  ‘There are no boys in the village.’

     “He went to the father of the girl and said:  ’You must
     give me your daughter to be my concubine, and I will
     herd the goats.’

     “The father of the girl agreed to that.  Then Hlakanyana
     went with the goats, and every day he killed one and
     ate it till all were done.”

LOWER THAN BEASTS