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

Overview

The unnamed maiden gives a melon intended for her mother to admirers waiting beside the road. Reproached at home, she sings to a favored star about the gift and her mother’s complaint that her eyes are green like a crocodile’s. Her mother then kills her and reduces the body to powder. The star is an addressee of the song; the text does not say that it intervenes or transforms either woman.

Wind carries the dust into a lake, where a crocodile gathers it and reconstructs her as a beautiful woman. Living below the water with him, she sometimes comes to the surface to call Mosibutsane and relate what happened. Mosibutsane is the sister’s name, not a supplied name for the restored heroine. The second song specifically credits the crocodile with her new human form. There is no later narrated return to the family or new death in this brief account.

Addresses a favored starKilled and powderedReappears above lakeCalls sister Mosibutsane
01

Origins & earliest records

Casalis presents this account among Enigmas and Tales. The selected episode does not name an individual narrator. His missionary interpretation following the story is distinguished from the narrated events.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete II. The Metamorphosis of a Maiden, printed pp. 344–347; narrative and translated songs independently read.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    The Basutos; or, Twenty-three Years in South Africa

    Eugène Casalis, missionary recorder; English edition · 1861

    Enigmas and Tales, II. The Metamorphosis of a Maiden, pp. 344–347; maiden’s death, lake reconstruction and surface song pp. 346–347.

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.

  1. Digitized historical collected narrativeCasalis — The Metamorphosis of a MaidenResearch 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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