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Overview
A young man insists on choosing his own wife against his parents’ reservations and marries Nabandji in a distant village. He notices that neither she nor the villagers eat with him, but does not understand their difference. The narrative explains that they have a front mouth for speech and a second mouth at the back of the head for eating. Adults conceal it with falling braids; children receive attached thread braids. Nabandji moves her head cautiously to hide this feature and refuses the food offered at her husband’s home.
When gathering firewood apart from her sisters-in-law, she sings and changes into a beast with horns and large ears. She grazes on grass, then returns to maiden form and resumes the task. At the lake another song draws out toads, which she catches and swallows in animal form. The narrator explicitly says the people of her country eat these rather than human beings. Junod renders chitchwéya as a unicorn in the song translation, but his footnote calls that correspondence a supposition and suggests more than one horn.
Her mother-in-law sends her daughters to observe how Nabandji remains well fed despite refusing their meals. They witness both transformations. Her husband initially disbelieves their report, then watches for himself. Later he repeats her grazing song while playing a timbila. Nabandji drops her pestle and becomes the beast before the assembled people. He continues accompanying her to the lake and plays the toad-catching melody; when he stops, she becomes a woman again.
The husband takes her back to her own village and demonstrates the melody there. All its inhabitants transform together and graze; stopping the music restores their human forms. He returns Nabandji, recovers the marriage payment and asks his parents to choose another wife. The complete account ends with that separation, not Nabandji’s death or permanent imprisonment in animal form.
Origins & earliest records
Camilla is the explicitly credited contributor in the opening footnote. Junod identifies her elsewhere as Chiguyane and publishes this French translation. His European unicorn comparison is a separate interpretive gloss; the reported family and feeding forms belong to this particular narrated country.
Records & interpretation
Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa (1897), XIX Nabandji, complete pp. 246–253; two-mouth description p. 247; horned transformation and tentative unicorn gloss p. 248; communal transformation and marriage-payment return pp. 252–253.
In the literature
“Ils ne mangent pas les hommes”
XIX Nabandji, la Fille aux crapauds, printed p.249 · Henri-Alexandre Junod (French)
The narrative explicitly distinguishes this people’s food from human flesh.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa
Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa (1897), XIX Nabandji, complete pp. 246–253; two-mouth description p. 247; horned transformation and tentative unicorn gloss p. 248; communal transformation and marriage-payment return pp. 252–253.
- 02
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa — XIX Nabandji, la Fille aux crapauds
Henri-AlexandreJunod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne:GeorgesBridel1897, Princeton scan. Complete original FrenchXVIII242–244 main story, XIX246–253 and XX253–256 independently read in retained OCR. Original244/249/256 pixels checked; Camilla244 and Manganyélé256 contributor notes visually read, Camilla246 and Chitchwéya248 notes read in OCR only. Illustration245 not reused or independently checked.
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.
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa
Henri-AlexandreJunod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne:GeorgesBridel1897, Princeton scan. Complete original FrenchXVIII242–244 main story, XIX246–253 and XX253–256 independently read in retained OCR. Original244/249/256 pixels checked; Camilla244 and Manganyélé256 contributor notes visually read, Camilla246 and Chitchwéya248 notes read in OCR only. Illustration245 not reused or independently checked.
- A young man chooses Nabandji against his parents’ advice and does not understand why her village refuses public food. Its inhabitants have a speaking front mouth and an eating mouth concealed at the nape. Nabandji privately transforms into a horned, large-eared grazing creature, eats grass and toads and resumes human form. Her sisters-in-law discover this; her husband confirms it and later forces public transformation by playing her songs. She becomes human when he stops. At her parents’ village he repeats the demonstration, transforming the whole group; he returns Nabandji, retrieves his marriage payment and asks his parents to choose his next wife.
Junod tentatively equates Chitchwéya with licorne while note248 says it probably has two horns; no universal single-horn unicorn classification is imposed. Source249 explicitly says the people do not eat humans. No transformation song or notation copied. Narrated social meanings and payments are source-specific, not a present-day cultural prescription.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- French translation of attributed oral narrative; digitized primary editionJunod — Camilla’s Nabandji and chitchwéya formsResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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