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Overview

A small bird visits the tree beside a bride’s mortar in the fourteenth tale of Chatelain’s collection. The bride has married a man with four brothers. After the four days of brideship, she prepares funji for the family, but the brothers-in-law refuse their portions unless she can name them. She does not know their names and must take the food away. Repeated cooking and refusal leave her troubled by the unexplained condition.

While she pounds fermented cassava near evening, the bird sings an invitation to listen and supplies all four names: Tumba Sikundu, Tumba Sikundu Muna, Tumba Kaulu and Tumba Kaulu Muna. She initially treats it as an annoyance, throws a stone and drives it away. She completes the pounding and cooking, but again cannot satisfy the brothers. When the bird returns and repeats its song the following morning, she finally understands that the names answer her difficulty. She serves the men and names them correctly; they laugh, accept the food and the household lives peacefully. The bird’s work is disclosure through a repeated song, rather than a transformation of the bride or an attack on the men.

Small bird beside mortarRepeated revealing songFour personal namesInitially driven awaySuccessful household reconciliation
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Origins & earliest records

Jelemía dia Sabatelu contributed this tale. Chatelain identifies its origin as Songo, its presented narrative dialect as Mbaka and the song as Songo dialect. Those distinctions prevent treating the printed language alone as proof of a single community origin.

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Records & interpretation

Complete tale XIV, A Bride and her Brothers-in-Law, bilingual pp. 140–145; English pp. 141, 143, 145. Contributor and dialect note XIV pp. 288–289.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Folk-Tales of Angola

    Héli Chatelain, collector, editor and literal English translator; named contributor in origin · 1894

    Complete tale XIV, A Bride and her Brothers-in-Law, bilingual pp. 140–145; English pp. 141, 143, 145. Contributor and dialect note XIV pp. 288–289.

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. Collected Ki-mbundu text with facing English translation and contributor notesChatelain 1894 — Name-Revealing Bird of the Bride’s MortarResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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