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Overview
Nouamoubia follows distant smoke while seeking fire for his father and reaches the Chihouboulébabi’s village. The narrative presents a community with mothers, children, young pursuers and an elderly woman. They regard their visitor as food but follow a rule of receiving people hospitably indoors before attacking. The old woman questions his origin; children announce their appetite, while their mothers warn against frightening the intended victim away.
Nouamoubia puts small twigs into the fire. Their crackling makes the adult ogres laugh uncontrollably and travel far from the village, still laughing. During their absence he kills their children and takes a burning brand. On his return for another brand, he finds the adults have unknowingly consumed their own young. He repeats the twig distraction and departs again. Junod’s note identifies the narrator’s route references as adaptations to the visible Lourenço-Marques landscape, rather than a mapped ogre territory.
The ogres pursue, stopping to lick the hero’s spit because they find it delicious. Prickly seeds and attacking insects delay but do not halt them. They reach the game the hero prepared near his father’s hiding place. One mother discovers the hidden man, and the company consumes him; the son remains safe in a tree. He later returns as a hunter and suitor, supplies ample game and marries their daughters, becoming accepted among them.
The apparent reconciliation is his revenge plan. He establishes a separate settlement and invites the entire ogre community to a harvest feast. He closes their huts under the pretext of etiquette. Intoxicated guests mistake the spreading fire for weather and other sounds for broken pots. The narrative ends with the community’s destruction and Nouamoubia’s return to his mother to mourn his father. No father-resurrection follows the attack.
Origins & earliest records
Chiguyane, also called Camilla, narrated this story to Henri-Alexandre Junod in May 1896, according to the opening footnote. Junod’s contributor account identifies her as originally from Chirindja and long resident at Lourenço-Marques. The published witness is his French translation, with narrator performance and editorial comparisons distinguished.
Records & interpretation
Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa (1897), XIV Nouamoubia, complete pp. 203–222; opening contributor/date note pp. 203–204; performance-locality note p. 213.
In the literature
“Ils mangent les gens.”
XIV Nouamoubia, le vainqueur des ogres, printed p.211 · Henri-Alexandre Junod (French)
The selected French narrative introduces the Chihouboulébabi as man-eaters.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa
Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa (1897), XIV Nouamoubia, complete pp. 203–222; opening contributor/date note pp. 203–204; performance-locality note p. 213.
- 02
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa — XIV Nouamoubia, le vainqueur des ogres
Henri-AlexandreJunod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne:GeorgesBridel1897, Princeton scan. Original French translation/recording; complete XIV203–222 and XV222–226 independently read in retained OCR. Original203–204 contributor opening previously visually read, and211/218/221/222/223/226 now visually inspected. IIIF zero-based canvas index=printed+3, independently checked in visible folios; scandata leafNum is one greater.
Family, evolution & connections
Nouamoubia, Ogre-Conqueror in Camilla’s Tale
The ogres become Nouamoubia’s parents-in-law through his marriages to their daughters, pp. 218–220. This is alliance by marriage, not biological descent; he subsequently destroys their settlement.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa
Henri-AlexandreJunod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne:GeorgesBridel1897, Princeton scan. Original French translation/recording; complete XIV203–222 and XV222–226 independently read in retained OCR. Original203–204 contributor opening previously visually read, and211/218/221/222/223/226 now visually inspected. IIIF zero-based canvas index=printed+3, independently checked in visible folios; scandata leafNum is one greater.
- The Chihouboulébabi inhabit a settlement where travellers are welcomed indoors before killing. Nouamoubia draws them away with crackling rods that provoke uncontrolled laughter, then kills their children while taking a firebrand. During a second pursuit, sweet-smelling spittle, thorny seeds and stinging insects delay but do not stop them. They discover his hidden father and eat him. Nouamoubia later returns as a hunter and suitor, marries all their daughters, provides game and builds a separate village. A feast closes the revenge: he locks the intoxicated guests in huts and burns the settlement, including older women outside.
These are the beings in Camilla’s particular account, not universal anatomy or a pan-Ronga classification. They are not silently given the one-sided bodies of the following Sofia tale. The narrator’s place-relative geographic adaptation is explained in footnote213; reported custom remains the literary telling’s context. No song, ritual formula or illustration reused.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- French translation of attributed oral narrative; digitized primary editionJunod — Nouamoubia and ChihouboulébabiResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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