Mantis once did as follows: Kwammang-a had taken off a part of his shoe and thrown it away, and Mantis picked it up and went and soaked it in the water, at a place where some reeds grew. Mantis went away, then he came back again, went up to the water, and looked. He turned away again, for he saw that the Eland was still small.

Again he came, and found the Eland’s spoor where it had come out of the water to graze. Then Mantis went up to the water, while Eland went seeking the grass which it eats. He waited, sitting by the water, he was upon the water’s bank, opposite Eland’s assegai, and soon Eland came to drink there. He saw Eland as it came to drink. He said, “Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!” And young Eland walked up as when its father thrilled to him. Mantis called, making his tongue quiver, as Bushmen still do in springbok hunting.

Then Mantis went to find some honey; he went to cut some honey. He came back and put the bag of honey down near the water and returned home. Then, before the sun was up, he came back to pick up the bag. He approached while Eland was in the reeds. He called to it, “Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!” And Eland got up from the reeds and walked up to its father. Mantis put down the bag of honey. He took out the honeycomb and laid it down. He kept picking up pieces of it, he kept rubbing it on Eland’s ribs while he splashed them, making them very nice.

Then he went away and took the bag to seek for more honey to cut. When he came back he again laid the bag of honey down near the water and returned home. Once more he returned and picked up the bag, once more he went to the place and called Eland out of the water, saying, “Kwammang-s shoe’s piece.”

Then Eland stood shyly in the water and walked up to its father, for he had grown. His father wept, fondling him. He again rubbed Eland’s ribs making nice with honeycomb. Then he went away, while Eland walked back into the water, went to bask in the water.

Mantis did not come back for a time, and for three nights. Eland grew, becoming like an ox. Then Mantis went out early. The sun rose, as he walked up to the water. He called Eland, and Eland rose up and came forth, and the ground resounded as it came. And Mantis sang for joy about Eland; he sang:

“Ah, a person is here!

Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!

My eldest son’s shoe’s piece!

Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!

My eldest son’s shoe’s piece!”

Meanwhile he rubbed Eland down nicely, rubbed down the male Eland. Then he went away and returned home.

The next morning he called young Ichneumon, saying that young Ichneumon should go with him and that they would be only two. Thus he deceived young Ichneumon. And they went out and reached the water while Eland was grazing. They sat down in the shade of the bush by which Eland’s assegai stood, where he kept coming to take it.

Mantis spoke: “young Ichneumon, go to sleep!” for he meant to deceive him. So young Ichneumon lay down, as Eland came to drink, because the sun stood at noon and was getting hot. Meanwhile young Ichneumon had covered up his head, because Mantis wished him to do so. But young Ichneumon did not sleep; he lay awake.

The Eland walked away, and young Ichneumon said. “Hi, stand! Hi, stand, stand!”

And Mantis said, “What does my brother think he has seen yonder?”

And young Ichneumon said, “A person is yonder, standing yonder.”

And Mantis said, “You think it is magic; but it is a very small thing, it is a bit of father’s shoe, which he dropped. Magic it is not.” And they went home.

Then young Ichneumon told his father Kwammang-a about it. And Kwammang-a said that young Ichneumon must guide him and show him Eland; he would see whether Eland was so very handsome after Mantis had rubbed it down. The young Ichneumon guided his father, while Mantis was at another place, for he meant to go to the water later on. Meanwhile they went up to Eland at the water, and Kwammang-a looked at it and he knocked it down while Mantis was not there. He knocked Eland down and was cutting it up before Mantis came. So when Mantis arrived, he saw Kwammang-a and the others standing there cutting up his Eland.

And Mantis said, “Why could you not first let me come?” And he wept for Eland; he scolded Kwammang-a’s people, because Kwammang-a had not let him come first, and let him be the one to tell them to kill eland.

And Kwammang-a said, “Tell Grandfather to leave off. He must come and gather wood for us, that we may eat, for this is meat.”

When Mantis came, he said he had wanted Kwammang-a to let him come while Eland was still alive, and not to have killed it when he was not looking. They might have waited to kill Eland until he was looking on. Then he himself would have told them to kill it. Then his heart would have been comfortable. Now his heart did not feel satisfied about Eland whom he alone had made.

Then, as he went to gather wood, he caught sight of a gall there, it was Eland’s gall. And he said to himself that he would pierce the gall open and that he would jump upon it. And the gall spoke: “I will burst, covering you over.”

Just the young Ichneumon said, “What are you looking at there, that you do not gather wood at that place?”

So Mantis left the gall, brought wood, and put it down. Then he again looked for wood at the place where the gall had been. He went up to the gall and again said he would pierce the gall open and that he would jump upon it. The gall again said it would burst, covering him all over. He said he would jump, and that the gall must burst when he trod on it and as he jumped.

Young Ichneumon scolded him again and asked, “What can be yonder, that you keep going to that place? You do not gather wood, you just keep going to that bush. You are going to play tricks and not gather wood.”

And Kwammang-a said, “You must make haste and let us go when you have called Grandfather, for the gall lies there; Grandfather has seen it. So you must make haste. When Grandfather behaves like this about anything, he is not acting honorably; he is playing tricks with this thing. So you must manage that we start, when you have called Grandfather, that we may leave the place where the gall is.”

Then they placed the meat into the net, while Mantis untied his shoe and put the shoe into the bag. It was an arrow-bag which he had slung on next the quiver. And so they carried the things and went along homeward. On the way Mantis said, “This shoestring has broken.”

Then young Ichneumon said, “You must have put the shoe away.”

And Mantis said, “No, no the shoe must really be laying there where we cut up Eland. So I must turn back and go fetch the shoe.”

But young Ichneumon said, “You must have put the shoe in the bag. You must feel inside the bag, feel in the middle of it and see whether you cannot find the shoe.”

So Mantis felt in the bag, but he kept feeling above the shoe. He said, “See, the shoe is really not in it. I must go back and pick it ip, for the shoe is truly yonder.”

But young Ichneumon replied, “We must go home, we really must go home.”

Then Mantis said, “You can go home, but I must really go and get the shoe.”

Thereupon Kwammang-a said, Let Grandfather be! Let him turn back and do as he wants.”

And young Ichneumon said, “O you person! I do wish Mantis would for once listen when we speak.”

Mantis only said, “You always go on like this! I must go and get the shoe.”

Then Mantis turned back. He ran up to the gall, reached it, pierced it, and made the gall burst. And the gall broke, covering his head; his eyes became big and he could not see. He groped about, feeling his way. And he went groping along, groping along, groping, until he found an ostrich feather. This he picked up, sucked it, and brushed off the gall from his eyes with it.

Then he threw the feather up and spoke: “You must now lie up in the sky; you must henceforth be the moon. You shall shine at night. By your shining you shall lighten the darkness for men and women, until the sun rises to light up all things for men and women. It is the sun under whom men and women hunt. You must just glow for men and women, while the sun shines for men and women. Under him men and women walk about; they go hunting; they return home. But you are the moon; you give light for men and women, then you fall away, but you return to life after you have fallen away. Thus you give light to all people.”

That is what the moon does: the moon falls away and returns to life, and he lights up all the flat places of the world.

[ BUSHE MEN ]