Mbulu in the Stolen-Clothes Tale

Overview

The travelling girl has lost her family before she encounters the mbulu: her brother killed her sister, and their mother then killed the boy. Her mother sends her toward an uncle, giving her a stick whose blow on the earth will bring up her possessions. At the river, the mbulu proposes that anyone wet while crossing must bathe, then splashes her with its tail to force the condition. While she is in the water, it takes her clothing. It repeatedly postpones returning the clothes and finally compels her to present herself as its servant while it claims to be a chief’s daughter. The village receives the supposed visitor favourably. Its strange voice attracts questions, but it explains the sound as the after-effect of illness. A local man marries the impersonator while the real girl is sent to guard the crops.

The displaced girl sings about the theft, prompting the working women to investigate. They know that a mbulu’s tail seeks mice and fat, and their first snare catches it during a night hunt. The mbulu sends its husband for medicine under a pretence of illness and removes the trap. A second test uses a milk-filled hole that everyone must jump. The creature initially resists, then attempts a quick leap, but its tail cannot ignore the milk and betrays it to the watching people. They kill and bury it in the hole, and the original traveller marries the same man.

The ending gives the defeated being a further manifestation. After the girl marries the same man and has a child, a square pumpkin emerges from the mbulu’s burial place and tries to kill the infant. The villagers chop and burn it, then throw its ashes into a river, concluding the effort to end its return. The hostile growth belongs to the creature’s grave episode. Throughout the earlier disguise, its tail acts at cross-purposes to the identity it has stolen: neither a medical excuse nor a quick leap can suppress that appetite. The women’s attention to the girl’s song turns this bodily weakness into evidence that reverses the household’s mistaken judgment.

A separately attributed Zulu witness appears in Callaway’s Untombi-yapansi, contributed by Lydia (Umkasetemba). Here the imbulu asks to borrow the heroine’s ox and clothing at a river, refuses to return them and takes her name. It falsely renames her Dogs’ Tail. At her sister’s household it explains the missing brass-like shine as illness and attempts to have the genuine visitor fed outside or on the ground. This version’s initial theft involves an ox and a stone warning, rather than Theal’s tail-splashing condition for a bath.

After the real heroine’s shining body and returning household company reveal her identity, the chief has a deep pit dug in the cattle-pen with milk lowered into it in a pot. The women are told to leap across. The reluctant imbulu finally attempts the jump, but its tail sees the milk and throws itself into the hole. Boiling water is poured in and the creature is buried. This witness has no square pumpkin growing from the grave: that final hostile manifestation belongs to the separately described Theal ending.

Origins & earliest records

Theal identifies Xhosa contributors for the main collection. His preface says contributors narrated, wrote down and collectively revised the tales, while he directed collection and supplied notes. The selected episode’s individual narrator is not named. A separately located Zulu variant is credited to Lydia (Umkasetemba) in Callaway’s collection; its episode and ending remain distinct.

Records & interpretation

Complete selected episode independently read: The Girl and the Mbulu, pp. 144–147; impersonation pp. 145–146, tail tests and grave-grown pumpkin p. 147. Callaway’s complete Untombi-yapansi pp. 296–316 provides a separately attributed variant.

In the literature

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Kaffir Folk-Lore, second edition

   George McCall Theal, collection director and annotator; Xhosa contributors not individually named for this episode · 1886

   The Girl and the Mbulu, pp. 144–147; impersonation pp. 145–146, tail tests and grave-grown pumpkin p. 147.; preface and introductory chapter for contributor roles.

2. 02

   Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus

   Lydia (Umkasetemba), contributor; Henry Callaway, translator and annotator · 1868

   Untombi-yapansi, complete pp. 296–316; imbulu impersonation pp. 303–306 and pit ending pp. 315–316. Distinct from Theal ending.

3. 03

   Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus, Volume I — Untombi-yapansi

   Lydia (Umkasetemba), contributor; Henry Callaway, translator/editor · 1868

   Henry Callaway, Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus, Volume I, Springvale, Natal: John A. Blair,1868; selected bilingual Princeton scan. Complete Untombi-yapansi pp296–316 independently read, including distinct variant notes; Lydia(Umkasetemba) closing credit onp316.

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. Collected primary narrative; digitized public-domain second editionTheal 1886 — Mbulu in the Stolen-Clothes TaleResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Digitized bilingual primary collected narrativeCallaway — imbulu variant in Untombi-yapansiResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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