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

Overview

In Krönlein’s version printed by Bleek, ǂGã ǂgorip is glossed as the pusher into the hole. He knows where the opening lies and sends people down into it. Heitsi Eibip, also called Heigeip in this passage, sees the attacks and challenges him. Their encounter is a repeated pursuit around the pit. Twice the enemy succeeds in pushing Heigeip over the edge, but the fallen hero asks the hole to support him and comes out again. At the final reversal Heigeip pushes ǂGã ǂgorip into the opening. The enemy does not come back, and the narrative ends with people breathing freely after his defeat.

Bleek places this immediately after a Knudsen version with an unnamed killer who asks travellers to strike his forehead with stones. Those missiles rebound and kill the throwers, so their bodies fall into the hole. Heitsi Eibip avoids that challenge and kills the man by a diverted-attention blow behind the ear. The editor presents the next tale as another version of the same legend, but only the Krönlein passage prints the pit-pusher’s name. The rebounding-stone method is consequently retained as the adjacent variant, rather than silently added to every appearance of the named being. Neither version supplies a detailed animal anatomy, giant size or a description of a subterranean home.

Pit ambushPushing victimsDefeat by reversal
01

Origins & earliest records

Bleek 1864 tale 38, from G. Krönlein’s manuscript p. 36 in Sir George Grey’s Library; compared by the editor with tale 37 from H. C. Knudsen’s German manuscript p. 7. Individual episode narrators are not named.

02

Records & interpretation

Both complete versions and the printed pronunciation footnote were read. Only tale 38 supplies ǂGã ǂgorip’s name; the shared-legend relationship is Bleek’s arrangement, not proof that all methods occur in one narrative.

In the literature

“he came not up again.”
W. H. I. Bleek · Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales
VII, tale38 — Another Version of the same Legend; complete case/all notes · W. H. I. Bleek, English translator/editor

ǂGã ǂgorip pushes people into a pit. During contests he twice pushes Heigeip down, but the opponent comes back with the hole’s support. He finally falls into it himself and never returns. Peace concludes the account.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales

    W. H. I. Bleek, translator and editor; H. C. Knudsen and G. Krönlein, manuscript intermediaries · 1864

    Tale 38 in full; adjacent tale 37 retained as a separately attributed variant. Chapter VII note 4 discusses the printed name notation.

  2. 02

    Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales — VII, tale38 — Another Version of the same Legend

    W. H. I. Bleek; source-specific manuscript/earlier collector qualifications in attestations · 1864

    London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.

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.

Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales — VII, tale38 — Another Version of the same Legend

London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.

  1. ǂGã ǂgorip pushes people into a pit. During contests he twice pushes Heigeip down, but the opponent comes back with the hole’s support. He finally falls into it himself and never returns. Peace concludes the account.

    VII, tale38 — Another Version of the same Legend; complete case/all notes

No entire volume or original cited manuscript/Alexander edition read. Preface11–12 collection-method passage read; remaining prefatory racial/linguistic hypotheses not endorsed or presented as established origin.

Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales

London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.

  1. The preceding version has an unnamed pit-side killer whose forehead reflects thrown stones lethally. Heitsi instead distracts and kills him behind the ear. The actual ǂGã ǂgorip name occurs in tale38; the unnamed tale37 antagonist is a separately printed variant, not independently proven identical biography.

    VII, tale37 — The Victory of Heitsi Eibip; separate full variant/all notes

No entire volume or original cited manuscript/Alexander edition read. Preface11–12 collection-method passage read; remaining prefatory racial/linguistic hypotheses not endorsed or presented as established origin.

References

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

  1. Historical translated manuscript narrativeBleek 1864, tale 37Research access: 2026-10-05
  2. Historical translated manuscript narrativeBleek 1864, tale 38Research 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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