A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The lion once flies and is so effective a hunter that other creatures cannot survive before him. He requires the bones of his prey to remain unbroken and leaves two White Crows to guard them at his kraal while he hunts. Great Frog enters, deliberately breaks the bones and announces where he can be found. The lion’s next attempt to fly fails, linking the intact remains at home to an ability exercised elsewhere.
He returns angrily, learns what happened and goes to the frog’s pool. Each attempted capture is defeated by the frog diving across the water; the frustrated lion finally goes home. From that day he must walk and creep up on game, while the White Crows lose their voices. The tale states flight without supplying wings or an anatomical explanation. Breaking protected bones changes a predator’s power, and a small aquatic opponent survives through movement the lion cannot match.
Bleek’s earlier version makes the connection between the kraal and the distant hunter particularly clear. Great Frog breaks the remains while Lion is away, tells the White Crows to report his deed, and gives the pool as the place to find him. Lion first discovers the change by trying unsuccessfully to fly, then returns to interrogate the watchers. At the pool he attempts to seize Frog from the water’s edge, but each approach merely sends Frog diving to the opposite side. Lion eventually abandons the pursuit. The ending explains both the predator’s creeping terrestrial approach to game and the White Crows’ lost speech; it does not narrate Frog being punished or Lion regaining flight. The protected bones, the pool escape and the two watchers are features of this particular collected narrative.
Origins & earliest records
Bleek’s Reynard the Fox in South Africa (1864), tale 22, identifies G. Krönlein’s manuscript pp. 3–4 in Sir George Grey’s Library. Bleek’s preface says Krönlein, a Rhenish missionary at Beerseba, Great Namaqualand, supplied original-language material with German translations following the 1861 collection request. The selected tale has no named individual narrator. Honeÿ later printed the narrative in South-African Folk-Tales (1910).
Records & interpretation
The complete earlier published English witness was read alongside the existing later compilation. The manuscript attribution is printed by Bleek; the original manuscript has not been independently inspected. Publication dates document these witnesses, not the beginning of the tradition.
In the literature
“Lion, it is said, used once to fly”
WHEN LION COULD FLY, printed pp.124–125; opening paragraph
Lion once flies; broken prey bones end that ability, and pursuit of Frog fails.
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 22; manuscript pp. 3–4; preface collection history. Historical title retained as bibliography, not present-day community terminology.
- 02
South-African Folk-Tales
When Lion Could Fly
- 03
South-African Folk-Tales — When Lion Could Fly
James A. Honeÿ, South-African Folk-Tales, New York: Baker & Taylor, published November1910, copyright1910, Trow Press; selected complete episodes and introduction method pp.1–5 independently read. Precise earlier source/version for each episode not individually identified by the compiler.
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.
South-African Folk-Tales
James A. Honeÿ, South-African Folk-Tales, New York: Baker & Taylor, published November1910, copyright1910, Trow Press; selected complete episodes and introduction method pp.1–5 independently read. Precise earlier source/version for each episode not individually identified by the compiler.
- Lion once flies; broken prey bones end that ability, and pursuit of Frog fails.
WHEN LION COULD FLY, complete tale, printed pp.124–125; introduction method pp.1–5
Honeÿ says the collection mixes earlier English publications, Dutch translations and childhood recollections; no specific unnamed oral narrator or single community assigned here. Colonial classifications and speculative origins in his introduction are not adopted. Songs, conjurations and practical instructions are omitted from copied excerpts.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translated collected narrativeBleek 1864, tale 22Research access: 2026-10-05
- Historical compiled taleWhen Lion Could FlyResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.