A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The unnamed young man is pledged for his uncle’s debt while still a child, then grows up without relatives able to redeem him. His owners make him till, fetch wood and carry water, beat him and leave him in rags. A speaking river visits his dreams twice and directs him to the landing at dawn. He ignores passing guns and cloth and takes the recommended small basket. When he opens it later, the medicine equipment is complete. Dreams then teach him the plants and procedures of healing; the collection reports these broadly rather than supplying a reproducible medical recipe.

When two visitors seek a physician, his owner says none lives there. The young man offers his services and requests a calling fee. The owner mocks his inexperience and tells them to beat him if he fails. In the first case, instruction continues in sleep whenever he lacks knowledge; the patient recovers after twenty days, and payment is a heifer. His owner takes that first animal. Further patients bring further cattle, and his reputation spreads. After three years he has six cattle and negotiates redemption by providing three more cows.

Freed, he moves to a country he chooses, builds, marries and continues practicing. Within six years he possesses a large herd and wealth. The ending connects his liberation to the river’s medicine gift and his earned cattle. His personal name, precise community residence and patients’ diagnoses are not given. He is not the physician who travels to Queen Muhongo’s underworld in tale XL; this witness concerns dream instruction and the escape from bondship, without a grave journey.

Human in inherited bondshipReceives floating basketLearns in dreamsOwner takes first paymentEarns cattle for redemptionBuilds independent household
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Origins & earliest records

Jelemía dia Sabatelu contributed tale XLI, identified as Mbaka in origin and dialect. Chatelain’s note explicitly says this river has no specified name or locality, unlike Lukala in tale III. The narrator places the story among maka, while the editor disputes the supernatural portions; that classification difference is preserved.

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Records & interpretation

Complete XLI, The Young Man and the River, bilingual pp. 228–233; English pp. 229, 231, 233. Contributor, river-identity and bondship notes pp. 304–306.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Folk-Tales of Angola

    Héli Chatelain, collector, editor and literal English translator; named contributor in origin · 1894

    Complete XLI, The Young Man and the River, bilingual pp. 228–233; English pp. 229, 231, 233. Contributor, river-identity and bondship notes pp. 304–306.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected Ki-mbundu text with facing English translation and contributor notesChatelain 1894 — Dream-Taught Healer of the Bondship TaleResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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