A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The old woman approaches the eldest of three merchant brothers with an old basket full of holes. He doubts its usefulness, but she knows that his outward voyage took six months and promises that the basket can bring him home by noon on the day after a noon departure. She asks ten pounds, receives payment and goes on to the second brother.
She next offers a mirror that at first seems obscured. When the buyer looks more carefully he sees his distant parents eating and the young woman he loves. The third brother receives a powder whose difference from ordinary supplies she demonstrates by killing and reviving a man; even his wound disappears. She sells each marvel for the same price and leaves. The account gives no separate personal name, household, animal form or previous relationship to the buyers.
The purchases later combine to save the beloved woman: the mirror reveals her death, the basket carries the travellers home before burial and the powder restores her. The brothers then dispute precedence, and another older person attempts judgement. The seller does not return to decide the marriage or revoke her gifts. Her role is the coordinated provision of three complementary powers, displayed through apparently ordinary objects whose extraordinary effects are enacted in the tale.
Origins & earliest records
Camilla is credited in the closing note. Junod places this among stories with external elements and describes its local coastal setting, while his proposed identification of the merchants and festival remains editorial interpretation.
Records & interpretation
Junod (1897), XXVII Les trois vaisseaux, complete pp. 304–309; three purchases and demonstrated resurrection pp. 305–306, collective rescue pp. 308–309, unresolved closing judgement and Camilla note p. 309.
In the literature
“on ne vit plus même de plaie”
XXVII Les trois vaisseaux, printed p. 306 · Henri-Alexandre Junod (French)
The old woman’s fantastic reviving-powder demonstration leaves no wound.
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 (1897), XXVII Les trois vaisseaux, complete pp. 304–309; three purchases and demonstrated resurrection pp. 305–306, collective rescue pp. 308–309, unresolved closing judgement and Camilla note p. 309.
- 02
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga — XXVII Les trois vaisseaux
Henri-Alexandre Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne: Georges Bridel, 1897, Princeton scan. Original French recording/translation; complete selected XXVII–XXX read with their notes, not the whole volume. Original printed306/313/314/319/320 visually checked for excerpts.
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-Alexandre Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne: Georges Bridel, 1897, Princeton scan. Original French recording/translation; complete selected XXVII–XXX read with their notes, not the whole volume. Original printed306/313/314/319/320 visually checked for excerpts.
- An unnamed old woman sells the three traders a travel basket, distant-seeing mirror and reviving powder. She demonstrates the last by shooting a man and restoring him without a visible wound. The brothers later use all three objects together to recover their beloved before burial. The powder belongs to the tale’s fantastic action, not an actual medical preparation.
Historical collected French rendering with colonial missionary framing, not a transparent modern community account. Printed excerpts checked in original facsimiles; other page boundaries read in retained primary OCR. No song, ritual wording, recipe or image copied.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Attributed oral account in French collected primary editionJunod — Old Woman of the Three MarvelsResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.