A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A powerful sorcerer’s daughter loves a hunter who has not returned her attention. Her father reluctantly gives her a skin that makes observers see a dog. She joins the hunter’s pack, but repeatedly leaves the chase and returns home. He finds his house swept, food prepared and fire tended, yet his neighbours deny responsibility. Suspecting a helpful spirit, he watches the dog whose unusual gaze has puzzled him.
Returning secretly during a hunt, he sees a woman cooking and the discarded skin hanging nearby. He seizes and burns it despite her attempt to reclaim it, then tells her to return to her father so he can follow and seek marriage. The verse ends with that intention rather than a narrated wedding. Brett’s footnote calls the heroine Ebesotu and connects the Ebesoana family name with her transformation, also describing descent through women. This is a recorded family-origin claim; it does not classify living descendants as supernatural beings.
Origins & earliest records
William Henry Brett’s Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana (catalogued1880), Part V. The author’s English verse is a literary adaptation rather than an unedited oral transcript.
Records & interpretation
The Sorcerer’s Daughter, pp.176–178, including the Ebesotu/Ebesoana footnote; complete printed tale read.
In the literature
“Its wonderful magic deceives all beholders!”
The Sorcerer’s Daughter, printed p.177 · William Henry Brett (English literary adaptation; source-language transcript not retained here)
A sorcerer’s daughter loves a lonely hunter who ignores her. Her father supplies a charmed skin that makes her appear to observers as one of his dogs. She leaves hunts early to sweep his home, bake cassava bread and tend the fire. Wondering who does the work, the hunter ties the other dogs to a tree and returns secretly. Through a crevice he sees the young woman and the hanging skin. He seizes it and burns it despite her attempt to recover it, then tells her to return to her father, whom he will follow to claim her as bride. A note identifies the heroine as Ebesotu and connects the Ebesoana family name with the legend.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana
The Sorcerer’s Daughter, pp.176–178, including the Ebesotu/Ebesoana footnote; complete printed tale read.
- 02
Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana — The Sorcerer’s Daughter
London: William Wells Gardner, catalogue1880. Actual original title image read: year is a bracketed handwritten1880, not a printed imprint date. Preface explicitly describes Brett’s metrical adaptation. Cornell scan text with selected complete episode and notes read; no whole-book claim. Printed excerpt folio visually checked. Selected complete printed The Sorcerer’s Daughter, pp.176–178.
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.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana
London: William Wells Gardner, catalogue1880. Actual original title image read: year is a bracketed handwritten1880, not a printed imprint date. Preface explicitly describes Brett’s metrical adaptation. Cornell scan text with selected complete episode and notes read; no whole-book claim. Printed excerpt folio visually checked. Selected complete printed The Sorcerer’s Daughter, pp.176–178.
- A sorcerer’s daughter loves a lonely hunter who ignores her. Her father supplies a charmed skin that makes her appear to observers as one of his dogs. She leaves hunts early to sweep his home, bake cassava bread and tend the fire. Wondering who does the work, the hunter ties the other dogs to a tree and returns secretly. Through a crevice he sees the young woman and the hanging skin. He seizes it and burns it despite her attempt to recover it, then tells her to return to her father, whom he will follow to claim her as bride. A note identifies the heroine as Ebesotu and connects the Ebesoana family name with the legend.
The Sorcerer’s Daughter, complete printed pp.176–178; prefacev–vi
The skin is supplied by her explicitly stated father; no personal father name or animal biological parent inferred. Narrated appearance differs from an independently described bodily dog transformation. Burning is against her immediate attempt to retain the skin; the poem ends with a proposed marriage claim, not a completed wedding. Maternal family-name rule is Brett’s note, not modern universal legal guidance.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textBrett1880: The Sorcerer’s Daughter, pp.176–178, including the Ebesotu/Ebesoana footnote; complete printed tale read.Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.