Jirimapimbiro

Overview

Jirimapimbiro appears when Skin-sore has escaped the woman who was trying to eat him. The woman’s great tooth was cutting through the tree where he had been stranded, but his returning dog interrupted her attack and the boy killed her. Her child then flies up: the narrator explicitly calls that child a bird named Jirimapimbiro. It asks why its mother has been killed. Skin-sore answers that she tried to eat him, and the bird declares that it will eat him in revenge.

The bird perches on a stone while speaking. Its size is described through the support it needs: a tree would break immediately beneath it. When it attacks the boy, the dog intervenes. Jirimapimbiro catches the dog and nearly kills it, but Skin-sore defeats the bird. He burns the bodies of bird and mother and returns to the settlement, where the inhabitants recognize him as their chief. The episode supplies neither a real bird species nor wingspan; its concrete form is a speaking, immensely heavy avenger whose mother has been represented as an old woman.

The surrounding tale continues beyond the victory. Skin-sore sends his dog with a messenger to retrieve the sister whom their parents abandoned alongside him. She reports a change in the castor-oil tree he had planted as a sign of his fortunes. They reunite and remain in the community. That reunion completes the human plot; Jirimapimbiro does not return. Kidd presents the episode among Tshindao-speaking Gazaland nursery tales, with Douglas Wood’s literal translations and further editorial mediation, rather than a named individual storyteller’s verbatim testimony.

Origins & earliest records

Kidd’s chapter VII attributes these nursery tales to Tshindao-speaking Gazaland contributors collectively. Preface p. x credits Douglas Wood with their literal translations; no individual teller is named for this episode. Colonial child-development theories are not adopted as community description.

Records & interpretation

Chapter VII, Surprise Stories, I, How Skin-sore Killed a Cannibal, complete pp. 224–230; female devourer and dog’s protection pp. 225–227, great tooth and Jirimapimbiro p. 228, chief recognition and sister’s reunion pp. 228–230. Translation mediation explicitly credited to Douglas Wood in preface p. x; editing explained pp. 223–224.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Savage Childhood: A Study of Kafir Children

   Dudley Kidd, compiler and editor; Douglas Wood, credited translation intermediary · 1906

   Chapter VII, Surprise Stories, I, How Skin-sore Killed a Cannibal, complete pp. 224–230; female devourer and dog’s protection pp. 225–227, great tooth and Jirimapimbiro p. 228, chief recognition and sister’s reunion pp. 228–230. Translation mediation explicitly credited to Douglas Wood in preface p. x; editing explained pp. 223–224.

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.

References

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

1. Historical collected tale, mediated translation and editorial accountKidd1906 — complete Gazaland tale and editorial framingResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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