Niamatsane

Overview

Niamatsane is the fabulous herd animal at the beginning of Casalis’s Little Hare narrative. A woman insists on its liver although her husband says its flesh is not good to eat and that it is hard to catch. Its leap spans a distance described as three sleeps in a single bound. When the husband finds a herd, their backs and legs are compared with live coal. He pursues them for several days before surprising them asleep in the sunshine.

The hunter uses a powerful spell, kills the finest of the herd, removes the liver and takes it to his wife. The scene assigns the spell to the human hunter, not to the animals. After eating with pleasure, the woman feels a burning inside and develops a thirst nothing can satisfy. She runs to the great desert lake, drinks all its water and lies on the ground unable to move. The extraordinary drinking is a narrated consequence of the consumed liver, distinct from the earlier comparison of the living animals’ appearance with coal.

The elephant, king of the beasts, sends the hare to investigate his dry lake and assembles the animals after hearing the report. The hyena refuses to pierce the woman because it does not attack openly; the lion refuses because it harms only those attacking it. The ostrich finally approaches with wings spread, turns and kicks the woman so forcefully that water rises into the air and pours back into the lake. The animals celebrate its return, though they still hesitate to drink their king’s water.

The story then continues with the hare secretly drinking and blaming the jerboa, followed by different animal tricks. No further living niamatsane appears in those later episodes. The entry therefore keeps the herds, enormous leap, coal comparison, successful spell hunt and liver’s consequence together, without adding horns, a modern species, fire-breathing or a separate spellcasting power absent from the witness.

Jacottet’s bilingual 1908 collection gives a substantially different Nyamatsane episode. A husband kills an old female member of the marsh-dwelling company while the others are away, takes her liver and disguises himself in her hide. The returning animals smell human flesh, then test their supposed grandmother by having her eat pebbles and leap a great ravine. He substitutes his travel provisions for the pebbles and succeeds at the leap. After discovering the empty hide, they pursue him by scent; a stone repeatedly becomes a slippery mountain that delays them, and village dogs finally stop the chase. Here no coal-coloured anatomy is supplied: the editor explicitly says that tellers do not describe the fabulous animals.

In that later witness the wife’s impossible thirst consumes household supplies, fountains, brooks, rivers and finally the animals’ pool. Named Mokhali oa Molata, she becomes too swollen to move. Little Hare releases the waters with his nail, in contrast to Casalis’s ostrich kick; Great Lion occupies the kingship that Casalis assigns to Elephant. The two accounts are retained as separate narrated variants, with no attempt to combine every action into one encounter.

Jacottet’s XXX calls related man-eating herd animals Nanaboleles and gives them a distinct visible marvel: their bodies emit light while they sleep. Thakane meets them in a country beneath a lake whose inhabitants they have consumed. An old woman hides her from their human-scent detection, obtains a hide and gives her a mountain-making stone. The herd follows her trail and digs below the raised refuge without reaching her; after repeated delays it turns back to its own distant country. Thakane returns with the hide for her brother’s equipment. Jacottet explicitly connects this tale with the Nyamatsane story, so its related name is retained here rather than multiplying an alias into an independent species.

Origins & earliest records

Casalis’s The Basutos (1861), IV “The Little Hare,” printed pages 350–351. Selected English-edition witness, mediated by a missionary collector.

Records & interpretation

The primary OCR directly attests the herd, unusual leap, coal comparison, spell-assisted hunt, liver and lake episode. Surrounding Christian comparisons and origin speculation are not adopted.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   The Basutos; or, Twenty-Three Years in South Africa

   Eugène Casalis · 1861

   IV. The Little Hare, printed pp. 350–351

2. 02

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

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

   Jacottet (1908), I The Nyamatsanes, complete bilingual pp. 2–17; fabulous-animal qualification p. 3, disguise and chase pp. 2–7, thirst and water release pp. 8–11, separate Hare continuation pp. 12–17; introduction xxii on collection and translation.

3. 03

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

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

   Jacottet (1908), XXX The Nanaboleles, complete bilingual pp. 200–209; English pp. 200, 202, 204, 206, 208; kinship and reward ending p. 208, lake guide and vanished populations p. 204, sleeping light and mountain-stone pursuit p. 206; comparison with Nyamatsanes pp. 200–201.

4. 04

   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 collection/translation statement introductionxxii independently read, alongside complete chapterIpp2–17 and notes; selected historical witness only.

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. Historical collected tale; digitized primary OCRThe Basutos — IV. The Little HareResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Collected Se-Suto text with literal English translation and notesJacottet — The NyamatsanesResearch access: 2026-10-05
3. Collected Se-Suto text with literal English translation and notesJacottet — luminous Nanabolele variantResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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