A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The Hippopotamus watches the Rainette after other animals have been misdirected about the source of trumpet music. He discovers that she herself is playing and takes the instrument to try it, but cannot produce a sound. She demonstrates and explains its origin in the defeated gazelle’s bones. When he asks to carry it home, she refuses; he nevertheless takes it and makes a wide river appear between them.
The Rainette floats across by inflating herself and follows his tracks. The Hippopotamus produces great heat, stinging insects, a marsh and another river, but her burrowing, sticky coating and water crossings overcome these barriers. As she approaches him on a leaf with weapons, an unnamed bird warns him to dive into the water. Later the bird’s surviving feathers repeat the warning, allowing him to evade more attempts.
After a three-day pause he believes the pursuer exhausted and comes out to practice the trumpet. The Rainette finds him and defeats him despite his offer to return it. She recovers the instrument but throws it into the water rather than simply resuming ownership. The Chameleon’s subsequent arrival and their alliance follow this outcome. This antagonist is distinct from the protective Hippopotamus who fosters Sidioulou in Camilla’s different account; the shared animal label does not transfer that guardian’s child-rearing role to this rival.
Origins & earliest records
Spoon, a former diviner living near Rikatla, is the named contributor in the closing note and Junod’s contributor discussion p. 72. Junod records his performed voices and distinguishes the printed epic’s return ending from Spoon’s additional king’s-tree incident, cross-referenced to the hare cycle.
Records & interpretation
Junod (1897), III L’Épopée de la Rainette, complete pp. 109–126; race/fire and emergence pp. 109–112, trumpet dispute and obstacles pp. 113–115, speaking feathers pp. 115–116, Chameleon’s revival pp. 120–121, elephant defeat pp. 121–122, false funeral and final return pp. 123–126; Spoon’s continuation described in closing note p. 126.
In the literature
“fit paraître un large fleuve.”
III L’Epopée de la Rainette, printed p.114 · Henri-Alexandre Junod (French)
Hippopotamus recognises that Rainette herself is making the misleading trumpet sound, cannot play the instrument, and takes it after she refuses to lend it. It creates a broad river and flees across. During pursuit it raises heat, sends bees and wasps, creates a swamp and another river. Rainette survives each obstacle and approaches by leaf, but bird and later feathers repeatedly warn it into the water. After she waits three days it comes out to practise the trumpet; she strikes it with three spears and kills it despite its offer to return the instrument. Her ordinary blade and axe then fail on its corpse, which Chameleon cuts with reeds.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa
Junod (1897), III L’Épopée de la Rainette, complete pp. 109–126; race/fire and emergence pp. 109–112, trumpet dispute and obstacles pp. 113–115, speaking feathers pp. 115–116, Chameleon’s revival pp. 120–121, elephant defeat pp. 121–122, false funeral and final return pp. 123–126; Spoon’s continuation described in closing note p. 126.
- 02
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa — III L’Epopée de la Rainette
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne: Georges Bridel1897. Complete III L’Epopée de la Rainette, printed109–126 including final contributor/continuation note read. Original111/114/116/120/126 visually inspected; Spoon explicitly credited120 and126. No claim of whole1897 volume or separate spoken performance review.
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.
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa
Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa, Lausanne: Georges Bridel1897. Complete III L’Epopée de la Rainette, printed109–126 including final contributor/continuation note read. Original111/114/116/120/126 visually inspected; Spoon explicitly credited120 and126. No claim of whole1897 volume or separate spoken performance review.
- Hippopotamus recognises that Rainette herself is making the misleading trumpet sound, cannot play the instrument, and takes it after she refuses to lend it. It creates a broad river and flees across. During pursuit it raises heat, sends bees and wasps, creates a swamp and another river. Rainette survives each obstacle and approaches by leaf, but bird and later feathers repeatedly warn it into the water. After she waits three days it comes out to practise the trumpet; she strikes it with three spears and kills it despite its offer to return the instrument. Her ordinary blade and axe then fail on its corpse, which Chameleon cuts with reeds.
III L’Epopée de la Rainette, complete printed pp.109–126; contributor120/126
This hostile thief is distinct from Camilla’s Sidioulou fostererXI. Its officially glossed epithet Noumpfoubou-marendjé116 does not establish ordinary zoological properties. Exact timing of creation is narrated, not a universal river-origin cosmology; no kinship with Rainette or her claimed honorific invented.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Attributed oral account in French collected primary editionJunod — River-Making Hippopotamus of Spoon’s EpicResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.