Sekholomi of the Bee Escape

Overview

Sekholomi receives help from a marsh rat because he has avoided harming its children. Its speaking gall bladder warns him of a lion at Takalasi’s household, enabling him and his attendants to hide in the rafters on two nights. Later it directs his movements around an ox during a daylight attack. He kills the lion, whose keepers mourn it as their child, and sets out with his wife.

The travellers pursue a flock of birds and lodge in a hut whose energetic owner brews beer and leaves repeatedly. The warning companion tells them to leave portions of the food for her. On a later visit she and another figure touch the sleepers while choosing whom they will eat, dismissing Sekholomi as too thin. He follows the warning to depart, but returns alone for his forgotten headdress, leaving a shield plume as a sign of whether he remains alive.

Near the hut he becomes a humming bee, enters and takes the headdress. Outside he resumes human form. The assembled cannibals chase him; the distant plume inclines as danger increases. He throws his club behind him and it becomes a mountain that blocks their view. Once beyond their sight he takes back the club, rejoins his companions and thanks the rat at the marsh. The ending includes his seizure of cattle identified in the translation as belonging to Bushmen and his return home. It does not show delivery of the rat’s promised reward.

The adjacent Selomakupu story has an unnamed chief’s son, a spear signal and a related headdress retrieval. Jacottet connects these versions, but this profile keeps the explicitly named Sekholomi’s bee transformation, gall-bladder warnings and mountain episode within XXXII, rather than assigning all of them to the preceding youth.

Origins & earliest records

Jacottet’s complete bilingual narrative and notes supply this located account. No individual teller is named in the inspected episode. Compared stories remain separate witnesses rather than additional attributes of this being.

Records & interpretation

XXXII, Sekholomi and Takalasi, complete bilingual pp. 214–221; English pp. 214, 216, 218, 220. Rat’s aid pp. 214–216; speaking lion pp. 216–218; bee form, mountain and return p. 220.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

   Édouard Jacottet, collector and translator; J. C. Smith, English text assistance · 1908

   XXXII, Sekholomi and Takalasi, complete bilingual pp. 214–221; English pp. 214, 216, 218, 220. Rat’s aid pp. 214–216; speaking lion pp. 216–218; bee form, mountain and return p. 220.

2. 02

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I

   Unnamed Sesotho narrative contributor; Édouard Jacottet, editor and translator; J. C. Smith, English text correction · 1908

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I, Morija/London, 1908, actual title-page OCR. Full preface and introduction xxii method statement read; complete XXXI–XXXII, bilingual pp.208–221, English narratives and all explanatory notes independently read. Facing Sesotho placement inspected without independent translation.

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.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Collected Se-Suto text with English translation and notesJacottet — complete selected bilingual taleResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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