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

Overview

Khatoane is the servant present when a chief instructs his son Leobu to carry a message of renewed life to distressed people. He hears the actual instruction and goes out quickly, announcing its opposite: people will die and will not rise. He visits the villages and hamlets throughout the chief’s territory. The text gives him no commission for this contrary announcement. His advantage is that he reaches the listeners before the authorized son.

Leobu later insists that his father’s instruction promised renewed life. The people answer that they have listened to Khatoane and will adhere to the first message. Even the true messenger’s identification of his father does not persuade them to revise their decision. The narrative finishes with that refusal; it records neither a reward nor a punishment for the servant. It does not explain his motives through hunger, a delay for food or an argument with the chief.

A note glosses Khatoane as a lizard and gives Chelle-Chelle as a different lizard designation in some other versions. This is comparative information rather than an additional person in the selected scene. Jacottet also criticizes Casalis’s assignment of the true message to the lizard and the deceptive one to the chameleon. The profile follows the actual role allocation printed here, preserving disagreement between collected witnesses instead of flattening them into one universal account.

The broader notes distinguish narratives where both messengers receive competing orders from this account’s overheard instruction and unauthorized reversal. That difference matters to Khatoane’s role: he is not simply the quicker of two equally commissioned couriers. His animal-name gloss, speech and place in a chiefly household are the represented characteristics. The closing proverb receives a qualified translation from Jacottet, who explicitly calls its precise etymology obscure.

Lizard-name glossOverhears chief’s instructionsUnauthorized contrary messageRuns aheadVisits villages and hamlets
01

Origins & earliest records

Jacottet’s complete VI is printed in Se-Suto and English. The chapter’s comparative notes distinguish its unauthorized false messenger from other death-message versions. No individual teller is identified in this inspected episode.

02

Records & interpretation

VI, Leobu, complete bilingual pp. 46–49; English pp. 46 and 48. Chief’s son and message p. 46; chameleon gloss p. 47; Khatoane’s false message and rejection of Leobu p. 48; variant and translation notes pp. 48–49.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

    Édouard Jacottet, collector and translator; J. C. Smith, English text assistance · 1908

    VI, Leobu, complete bilingual pp. 46–49; English pp. 46 and 48. Chief’s son and message p. 46; chameleon gloss p. 47; Khatoane’s false message and rejection of Leobu p. 48; variant and translation notes pp. 48–49.

  2. 02

    The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I

    Unnamed Sesotho narrative contributor; Édouard Jacottet, editor and translator; J. C. Smith, English text correction · 1908

    The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I, Morija: Sesuto Book Depot; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1908. Actual title-page OCR, full preface and introduction xxii collection/English correction statement read. Complete VI, Leobu, bilingual printed pp.46–49; English narrative pp.46/48 and complete surrounding comparative/translation notes independently read. Sesotho placement inspected without independent translation.

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.

The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I, Morija: Sesuto Book Depot; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1908. Actual title-page OCR, full preface and introduction xxii collection/English correction statement read. Complete VI, Leobu, bilingual printed pp.46–49; English narrative pp.46/48 and complete surrounding comparative/translation notes independently read. Sesotho placement inspected without independent translation.

  1. An overhearing servant delivers a false death message before the authorized messenger arrives.

    VI, Leobu, complete bilingual pp.46–49; English pp.46/48, chameleon/son note p.47, lizard note p.48 and uncertain-expression note p.49

Leobu is the chief’s son in this telling; the name is said to mean chameleon, without an identified scientific species. The servant overhears and acts without a separate commission. The reason for the original distress is not explained; Jacottet’s death explanation and proposed version priority are conjectures. His uncertain makoalepetso translation remains acknowledged. No universal African version or global-first claim; J. C. Smith’s English correction credited.

References

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

  1. Collected Se-Suto text with English translation and notesJacottet — complete Leobu legendResearch 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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