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Overview

A young traveler finds a human skull beside a road used by many people. Striking it with his staff, he attributes its death to foolishness. The skull answers that foolishness killed it and cleverness will soon kill him. He abandons his journey and returns to the village elders, treating the speech as an extraordinary discovery. They say they have often passed the same skull without hearing it speak.

The traveler proposes a demonstration and stakes his own head on its success. A company accompanies him to the road. He strikes and addresses the skull twice, but it remains silent. The witnesses condemn his report as a lie and behead him. Only after the execution does the skull speak again, contrasting its own foolishness with the cleverness that has killed him. The company then acknowledges that it killed him unjustly. Its selective speech, rather than an attack or a pursuit, drives the fatal reversal.

Human skull beside roadAnswers solitary travelerSilent during demonstrationSpeaks after executionWitnesses acknowledge injustice
01

Origins & earliest records

Jelemía dia Sabatelu contributed tale XLV; Chatelain identifies both dialect and origin as Mbaka. The skull is unnamed; the vocabulary note explains forms of the word for skull rather than giving it a personal name.

02

Records & interpretation

XLV, The Young Man and the Skull, bilingual pp. 242–243; contributor and vocabulary notes p. 307.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Folk-Tales of Angola

    Héli Chatelain, collector, editor and literal English translator; named contributor in origin · 1894

    XLV, The Young Man and the Skull, bilingual pp. 242–243; contributor and vocabulary notes p. 307.

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. Collected Ki-mbundu text with facing English translation and contributor notesChatelain 1894 — Roadside Skull of the Failed DemonstrationResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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