From the editor:
Human relations, indigenous/alien projects … hopefully many South Africans of all races will read this fairytale on the Hottentots-god.
When listening to the wheeling and dealing on bushmen crafts of when and where and .… in short all the other questions starting with a “w” describing the creation of their products, I asked as well “what about a fairytale-like story, a story may be told by a bushman or San (I was made believe that the bushmen at a near by San research centre would rather be called this way) when sitting around a fireplace while listening to the sound of the night?
“Yes, no problem I will do that!”
The same day, a couple of hours later, Henry Jansen, alias Xam, a trader from Namibia, left Hout Bay for an appointment in Franschhoek. From there he organised somebody to capture the tale on a computer. A couple of minutes later I received an email in Afrikaans and a SMS asking if the language would cause a problem. Of course not, my daughter translated and so the story goes:
The Hottentots-god
by Henry Jansen alias Xam
Henry Jansen
|
One day all the animals got together and decided to destroy the one; namely the Hottentots-god. He was too fine and small, and usually sat in every tree and bush for days on end and never did anything. Elephants flattened every tree to get rid of the Hottentots-god. Lion roared that the earth shook and even the hyena lifted its last leg. Then a big drought arrived and everyone started to suffer, as there was no rain to feed the plants or the animals. Then they realized that the Hottentots-god always prayed for rain, but by then it was too late…..
[Let there be a place for everyone under the sun – and everyone to take their lawful place – even the bushman to tame nature and to dance for the rain.]
As I feel this has to be the original version -> the original Afrikaans version composed by Henry:
Eendag het die diere bymekaar gekom en besluit om die een dier uit te wis; naamlik die hottentotsgod.Hy was te fyn en klein en het gewoonlik in elke boom of bos gesit en sit vir dae sonder om iets te doen. Olifant het elke boom plat geloop om hottentotsgod te verbrysel. Leeu het gebrul dat die aarde sidder en selfs hyena het sy laaste beentjies opgetel. Toe kom daar n baie groot droogte en almal het begin ly,want daar was geen reen om plant en dier te voed. Toe het hulle besef hottentotsgod het altyd gebid vir reen,maar dit was reeds te laat...
Deur Henry Jansen alias Xam
[Laat daar vir elkeen n plekkie in die son wees en elkeen sy regmatige plek in neem,selfs die boesman om die natuur te tem en te dans vir reen.]
|
|
|
|
Print this window
|
|
