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

Overview

The Imbula emerges from a manumbela tree after Mulha climbs it for forbidden fruit. Her deep voice shakes the tree before its trunk opens. She has long red hair over her lumpy skin and a wolf-like snout. Pretending that exchanging clothes will protect the travelling girl, she takes Mulha’s striped cloth and beads and gives her the ogress skin. It adheres to Mulha, while the uncovered Imbula looks like a beautiful girl with even white teeth; the wolf snout disappears.

At Mulha’s married sister’s home she impersonates the visitor and relegates the real girl to an old woman’s hut. One feature remains: a tail, coiled around her waist beneath her girdle. She becomes engaged to a prince but refuses close contact to conceal it. After the true Mulha is recognized while bathing, the king has every woman walk around a hole containing food and milk. The Imbula protests, then obeys. Her tail uncoils and plunges toward the milk, exposing her; the king orders her killed and Mulha resumes her place.

The tale attributes an uncontrollable milk-seeking tail to its monsters. This profile retains that specific discovery scene and the removable skin rather than treating the whole disguised body as a fixed animal species. The scene resembles other southern African usurper tales, but the published Imbula is not silently merged with a separately named witness such as Mbulu.

Wolf-like snoutLong red body hairTransferred adhering skinHuman disguise with hidden tailMilk reveals impersonator
01

Origins & earliest records

Sarah F. Bourhill and Beatrice L. Drake collected and arranged the English tale for children. The publication does not name an individual contributor for this episode; its literary dialogue is not treated as a verbatim field transcription.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete XIX. The Beauty and the Beast, printed pp. 224–236, read through the final resolution.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Fairy Tales from South Africa

    Sarah F. Bourhill and Beatrice L. Drake, collectors and arrangers · 1908

    XIX. The Beauty and the Beast, pp. 224–236; complete English arrangement, unnamed individual contributor.

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.

Primary source witness

Sarah F. Bourhill (Mrs. E. J. Bourhill) and Beatrice L. Drake (Mrs. J. B. Drake), Fairy Tales from South Africa, London: Macmillan, 1908; selected original title page and complete headed tales in PG75833. Arranged for children; introduction pp.v–xi attributes principally Swazi, also Zulu and border-region contributions, with Shining Princess attributed to Mapoch. Individual narrators for these selected tales unnamed. Historical colonial framing is not current community consensus.

  1. After Mulha picks forbidden fruit, an ogress emerges from its tree and exchanges clothing and skin under a promise to return them. The ogress appears beautiful while Mulha is trapped in her misshapen red-haired skin. The impostor’s concealed tail remains and threatens discovery.

    XIX, pp.229–232; stolen appearance

  2. The impostor’s reluctance to sit close to her suitor protects the hidden tail. A king’s food-and-milk test makes it emerge and exposes her; his men kill her. The actual Mulha is then shown restored and marries the prince. The tail’s milk response is a claim within this specific arrangement, not biological natural history.

    XIX, pp.233–236; exposure and death

Selected historical arrangement, not unmediated original-language oral testimony. Individual contributor not named; no separate manuscript inspected. Original facsimile not visually inspected in this batch.

References

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

  1. Collected historical tale in an English literary retellingBourhill and Drake — XIX. The Beauty and the BeastResearch 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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