Imangé

Overview

Jacottet preserves two accounts of Imangé and explicitly calls them incompatible. In the version attributed to Maroumo, Imangé is a female chief with a male-chief brother. Her brother hates her, so she leaves to settle among the A-Kwangwa. They too resent her and hope for her death. She becomes ill, dies and is buried at Itoukou. Later she comes out of her grave amid a powerful wind, breaking trees as she travels. She reaches Ikwitji and enters the lake with her cattle and people, establishing her village there.

The lake-household account describes later signs of her presence: cattle lowing, people speaking, flutes sounding and cattle seen moving in the water. Seeing the cattle or hearing the flutes is presented as an omen of the observer’s death. Jacottet’s note separately attributes reports of mysterious sounds and underwater cattle to Akaende and Maroumo, referring there to Lake Itoukou. That note’s locality is not silently substituted for the tale’s entry into Ikwitji. The account makes the dead ruler’s household audible and sometimes visible without describing every subject as resurrected or giving Imangé an animal form.

In Kaboukou’s contrasting version, Imangé is a male chief ruling alongside his sister. His wives smother him and announce a natural death. A young attendant has witnessed the killing and discloses it through his lament. The sister hears, returns home and breaks her bow; the people disperse. This version links the broken bow to the dissolution of a formerly united people. It neither narrates a grave-returning queen nor sends the murdered chief into the lake. Jacottet’s preference for one account as historical explanation is his judgment, not a reason to erase the other narrator’s differing sex, family role and ending.

Origins & earliest records

Jacottet’s 1901 Textes Louyi, LIII–LIV, gives two specifically attributed accounts: Kaboukou’s male chief and Maroumo’s female ruler. The introduction and notes distinguish these contributors; Akaende and Maroumo separately supply comments on lake sounds. The publication does not verify the narrated ruler’s historical identity or date.

Records & interpretation

Complete LIII–LIV pp. 128–131 read with source notes. Narrator, sex, household and ending differences remain explicit; the lake locality distinction in the later comment is preserved. No historical unity or migration theory is adopted from the collector’s commentary.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Études sur les langues du Haut-Zambèze, III: Textes Louyi

   Édouard Jacottet; versions attributed to Kaboukou and Maroumo · 1901

   LIII–LIV, Imangé, pp. 128–131, full contrasted narratives and notes; printed130 lake-entry account and Akaende/Maroumo comments.

2. 02

   Jacottet Textes Louyi: Imangé: Kaboukou and Maroumo contrasted accounts

   Kaboukou and Maroumo, separately attributed narrators; collected by Édouard Jacottet · 1901

   Édouard Jacottet, Études sur les langues du Haut-Zambèze, third part: Textes Louyi, Paris: Ernest Leroux,1901. Title and complete introduction independently read; misleading catalogue1869 date rejected. French translation with Louyi originals. Introduction names Kaboukou(1895), Akaende and Maroumo(1900), but retained contents omit promised tale-level initials, so individual attribution for these selections remains unresolved.

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.

References

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

1. Digitized primary collected textJacottet — Louyi leopard marriageResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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