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Overview
The elephant is represented as a husband living with a human Nama woman and his blind mother. The wife’s two brothers visit secretly because they fear him. She brings them into the home concealed among firewood and hides them on a raised household storage structure. She then complains that no wether has been slaughtered for her since her marriage. The elephant smells something when he comes back from the field, but his mother instead urges him to meet the unusual request. The wife receives the roasted animal and questions her mother-in-law about the different breathing sounds of light and deep sleep.
When the elephant household falls into the deeper sleep, the wife wakes her brothers, dismantles the hut and takes its necessary contents. They leave with the livestock, retaining one cow, one ewe and one goat at the abandoned home. These animals are instructed to sound like the whole herd, preserving the appearance that nothing has changed. In the morning the elephant discovers the departure, takes his stick and follows. Before leaving he tells his mother that the earth will tremble if he falls. The elephant’s approach drives the fugitives towards a narrow rocky passage.
The wife appeals to the stone of her ancestors, and it divides to let the human party through before closing again. The elephant makes the same request. The rock opens, but closes upon him after he enters, killing him. The earth trembles, and his mother recognizes the event as the fulfilment of his warning. Bleek’s printed attribution identifies Krönlein’s manuscript pages 1 and 3; the preface describes original-language collection and German translation. No individual narrator is named for this tale. The rock’s two different responses and the wife’s careful preparations belong to the represented escape, rather than an added general rule about all elephant marriages.
Origins & earliest records
Bleek 1864, tale 27, identifies G. Krönlein’s manuscript pp. 1, 3 in Sir George Grey’s Library. The preface associates Krönlein’s collection with his Beerseba mission and the 1861 request. The exact tale contributor is not named.
Records & interpretation
Complete tale 27 and its household-stage footnote were read. Printed manuscript provenance is retained without claiming direct inspection of that manuscript.
In the literature
“Thus died the Elephant, and the earth trembled.”
V, tale27 — How a Nama Woman outwitted the Elephants; whole tale and chapter notes · W. H. I. Bleek, English translator/editor
An elephant husband has a human Nama wife, whose two brothers secretly visit. With cattle and household goods she escapes while he and his blind mother sleep. Selected cattle left behind mask the departure. A rock opens for the fleeing trio and closes, then opens for the pursuing elephant and crushes him. Earth trembles at his death and his mother understands his prediction. The tale does not revive him.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales
Tale 27, complete, and footnote explaining the household storage stage; Krönlein manuscript pp. 1, 3.
- 02
Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales — V, tale27 — How a Nama Woman outwitted the Elephants
London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.
Family, evolution & connections
The elephant husband and his blind mother — Bleek 27
Complete How a Nama Woman Outwitted the Elephants, historical English rendering; underlying manuscript not independently inspected.
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- Unnamed blind mother
Blind mother explicitly calls the elephant her eldest son. No father or named sibling is supplied. The human wife and her two brothers are affinity relations, excluded from this biological branch. This story family is not natural zoological ancestry or a pedigree of a contemporary community.
His unnamed blind mother
The blind mother-in-law twice calls the elephant her eldest son. No father or individually described younger child is supplied; eldest does not justify inventing additional siblings.
His unnamed human wife
The opening states the elephant’s marriage to the woman. Her later flight and the elephant’s death are retained within this account; no offspring are stated.
His wife’s two unnamed brothers
The two men are explicitly the wife’s brothers and assist her escape. They are therefore the elephant’s brothers-in-law, distinct from the elephant’s own unspecified relatives.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales
London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.
- An elephant husband has a human Nama wife, whose two brothers secretly visit. With cattle and household goods she escapes while he and his blind mother sleep. Selected cattle left behind mask the departure. A rock opens for the fleeing trio and closes, then opens for the pursuing elephant and crushes him. Earth trembles at his death and his mother understands his prediction. The tale does not revive him.
V, tale27 — How a Nama Woman outwitted the Elephants; whole tale and chapter notes
No entire volume or original cited manuscript/Alexander edition read. Preface11–12 collection-method passage read; remaining prefatory racial/linguistic hypotheses not endorsed or presented as established origin.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translated narrativeBleek 1864, selected complete taleResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.