A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The Moon in this selected |Xam account is a speaking figure whose death is followed by a living return. His intended promise is that people should resemble him: after dying, they too would arise again. That possibility becomes the subject of a disagreement with a grieving young figure called the hare, whom the narrator explains had formerly been a person. The hare’s mother has died. The Moon tells him to stop crying because she will return alive, but he refuses to agree and insists that she is altogether dead.
The Moon becomes angry at this contradiction. He strikes the hare’s mouth with his fist and splits it, then declares that the figure will become a hare, keep the scar, spring and double back, be chased by dogs and die when caught. He also changes the fate of people: instead of returning as he does, they will die and go away. The speech is repeated as an explanation of the lost possibility of renewal. This is an argument with a mourner in the inspected version, rather than a messenger forgetting an errand.
The episode continues with further consequences for the hare. The Moon says that it will lie on bare ground rather than beneath a tree, troubled by vermin; the teller connects its head-shaking when it rises with dislodging those vermin. The collection’s final note identifies this as one selected version among different Moon-and-Hare death stories. The same edition separately describes the Moon’s injury and regrowth in the Sun-Armpit tale; that account is a related witness, not a substitute for the particular quarrel and transformation recorded here.
Origins & earliest records
Bleek and Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folklore (1911), II.—22, The Origin of Death, pp. 56–65. Original p. 56 heading credits Dia!kwain’s 1875 dictation in the Katkop dialect. The account refers to what mothers taught; the heading does not name one individual maternal source.
Records & interpretation
Complete narrative and surrounding notes, pp. 56–65, read. Actual p. 56 scan visually verifies Dia!kwain, 1875 and Katkop dialect. Former human, fist blow, transformation, mortality and final bare-ground/vermin consequences are explicit. The edition says it selected this version from several; no universal variant identity is inferred.
In the literature
“I, when I am dead, I again living return.”
II.—22, The Origin of Death; complete prose narrative pp.59–65 and all notes; contributor heading p.56, opening prayer excluded from derivation; exact prose excerpt p.63 · Bleek–Lloyd original English translation; Lucy C. Lloyd, editor. B./L. are prior report designations, not by themselves independent collector proof (Preface x).
The Moon tells a mourning man that his mother has not died permanently and can return alive. When the man refuses to agree, the Moon strikes his mouth, makes him a hare and condemns people to final death. The Moon contrasts its own recurring life with the fate now imposed on humans. The mother’s return is discussed but not actually performed in this narrative.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Specimens of Bushman Folklore
II.—22, The Origin of Death, complete pp. 56–65, including contributor heading and explanatory notes. Opening prayer read as context but not reproduced.
- 02
Specimens of Bushman Folklore — II.—15, The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky; complete pp.44–55 with Further Remarks/notes through57
London: George Allen & Company,1911; original bilingual edition. Selected printed pages 47/55/56/59/63 visually checked; English narrative/notes read in original OCR. Marginal manuscript numbers, printed pages and access-image indices distinguished.
- 03
Specimens of Bushman Folklore — II.—22, The Origin of Death; complete prose narrative pp.59–65 and all notes; contributor heading p.56, opening prayer excluded from derivation
London: George Allen & Company,1911; original bilingual edition. Selected printed pages 47/55/56/59/63 visually checked; English narrative/notes read in original OCR. Marginal manuscript numbers, printed pages and access-image indices distinguished.
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.
Specimens of Bushman Folklore
London: George Allen & Company,1911; original bilingual edition. Selected printed pages 47/55/56/59/63 visually checked; English narrative/notes read in original OCR. Marginal manuscript numbers, printed pages and access-image indices distinguished.
- Within the Sun narrative the Sun attacks the Moon with a knife but agrees to preserve its backbone. The painfully departing Moon returns home, renews its body and comes back whole and alive at night. A footnote attributes the Moon’s origin to a shoe thrown up by the Mantis; this is an editorial cross-reference, not a separately complete Mantis episode.
- The Moon tells a mourning man that his mother has not died permanently and can return alive. When the man refuses to agree, the Moon strikes his mouth, makes him a hare and condemns people to final death. The Moon contrasts its own recurring life with the fate now imposed on humans. The mother’s return is discussed but not actually performed in this narrative.
No entire volume, original performance/manuscript archive or unprinted second Sun version read. No independent |Xam translation. No ritual/prayer/food-protocol derivation.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected narrative and original page scanOriginal 1911 bilingual edition: The Origin of DeathResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.