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Overview
Two hunting brothers shelter from rain in a Ma-kishi house and play the mbanza they find there. Returning inhabitants carry multiple buffaloes, but hesitate when voices inside threaten to make them food for the strangers’ dogs. Their chief eventually enters and orders the visitors outside. After the brothers kill the twelve other Ma-kishi, the elder attacks the chief. Each time he cuts off a head, another succeeds it. The brothers pause because this repeated replacement defeats their initial attempt to kill him.
The elder changes into a bagre fish, which the chief swallows. Inside the body he finds the keys of the houses, takes them and comes out. The younger then cuts off the chief’s head and he dies. The brothers open rooms containing enslaved people and an upper story with three ladies, feed the captives and remain in the house. Chatelain’s note warns that the translated plural hearts refers collectively to inner organs, not multiple literal hearts. The key-taking and final fatal cut remain the exact narrated sequence; an unexplained external-soul theory is not added.
Origins & earliest records
Musoki supplies tale VIII. Chatelain says he was a Mu-suku passenger traveling with him from Loanda to St. Vincent in May 1890, an enslaved personal servant being taken toward Lisbon. The printed dialect is that of the Dande River. This named contributor’s circumstances are retained rather than replaced by an anonymous community attribution.
Records & interpretation
Complete tale VIII, The Children of the Widow, bilingual pp. 110–115; English narrative pp. 111, 113 and ending p. 115; contributor note VIII pp. 282–283, notes 384–391. Combat and fish episode English p. 113; note 389 p. 283.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Folk-Tales of Angola
Complete tale VIII, The Children of the Widow, bilingual pp. 110–115; English narrative pp. 111, 113 and ending p. 115; contributor note VIII pp. 282–283, notes 384–391. Combat and fish episode English p. 113; note 389 p. 283.
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.
- Collected Ki-mbundu text with facing English translation and contributor notesChatelain 1894 — Regrowing-Head Ma-kishi Chief of the Widow’s ChildrenResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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