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

Overview

Mothemelle carries a young woman who hopes to reach her elder sister’s prosperous household, but drops her beside a different village. The narrative specifies that it lies below the earth’s surface, beneath a lake. Its inhabitants approach by hopping on one leg. The girl initially mistakes them for her sister’s people and protests that they looked different when they visited home. They beckon with their eyebrows and lead her toward the lake, leaving her with skin blankets and an instruction to sleep there.

At nightfall an old woman reveals the purpose concealed by this reception: a pot is being washed for the girl to be eaten. The girl insults the helper but finally takes her warning. She disguises a long stone with her own garment, adds a rag head and leaves the dummy where she had slept. She escapes without any narrated confrontation or slaughter of the inhabitants. The remaining journey follows rivers, thickets and other households while she calls fruitlessly for Mothemelle.

The complete story carries her through refuge at her maternal uncle’s home and eventual marriage. It never returns to the lake settlement or describes its inhabitants being destroyed. The one-legged morphology and underwater location belong to this fantastical company; the ordinary people who later offer water, food or shelter are not included in it. Their shared body motif with other tales does not establish that they are the same village or individual figures encountered by Ntotoatsana.

Under-lake settlementOne-legged hoppingEyebrow gesturesConcealed human-eating planThreat exposed by old womanEvaded with stone dummy
01

Origins & earliest records

Jacottet’s complete XXXIII is printed in Se-Suto and English. A note explicitly identifies the carrier as a fabulous bird; no individual contributor is named in this inspected episode. The editor’s guesses about older forms of its mounted travellers remain conjectures.

02

Records & interpretation

Jacottet (1908), XXXIII The Mothemelle, complete bilingual pp. 220–233; English pp. 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232. Fabulous-bird identification and Mothemelle/Monyemelle distinction pp. 222–223; lake village and one-legged pursuers p. 224; dummy escape p. 226; complete human aftermath pp. 228–232.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

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

    Jacottet (1908), XXXIII The Mothemelle, complete bilingual pp. 220–233; English pp. 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232. Fabulous-bird identification and Mothemelle/Monyemelle distinction pp. 222–223; lake village and one-legged pursuers p. 224; dummy escape p. 226; complete human aftermath pp. 228–232.

  2. 02

    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 introduction xxii independently read; complete XXXIII, English printed pages 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, with facing Sesotho placement and explanatory notes inspected. 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.

The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

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 introduction xxii independently read; complete XXXIII, English printed pages 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, with facing Sesotho placement and explanatory notes inspected. Selected historical witness only.

  1. One-legged inhabitants of an underground lake village intend to cook a visitor, who escapes through a substitute.

    XXXIII, The Mothemelle, complete bilingual pp.220–233; lake encounter English p.224, dummy escape p.226, complete human aftermath pp.228–232

These inhabitants are explicitly cannibals in this episode; they are not the bridegroom’s relatives and are not assigned the additional one-arm/eye/ear traits of Ntotoatsana’s distinct tale. No unshown pursuit, biological kinship, songs or formulas copied. Specific narrator is not identified from the volume-level contributor list. Sesotho placement is not an independent translation; J. C. Smith’s English correction is credited.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected Se-Suto text with literal English translation and notesJacottet — complete Mothemelle taleResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

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