A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A chief who lost seven sons in battle seeks seven beautiful birds with long tails and topknots to take their place. He appoints his own speechless son to lead six boys in capturing them. Sikulume begins speaking after catching his bird. On the return journey the boys overhear a cannibal planning their consumption and escape while he fetches companions. Sikulume goes back for his forgotten bird despite the danger. He leaves an assagai as a signal: standing still means safety, shaking means flight and falling means death.
An old woman gives him fat to delay pursuit. Twice he puts it on a stone, making the cannibals fight over the apparent food; each time one swallows the stone and is killed by the others. His discarded mantle then runs in another direction as a diversion. A little man turns a stone into a hut for the boys. It still appears to be stone to their pursuers, whose attempts to bite it break their teeth. Reaching home, the boys find an elderly survivor who says the river monster inabulele swallowed everyone else. Sikulume enters its body with a spear, finds people and cattle alive and kills it from within. His companions open its side and release them.
Later his sister sings to bring the dead monster’s body from the river and cuts skin for his sandals and mantle. Setting out to marry Mangangezulu’s daughter, he receives warnings from a mouse and then its speaking skin: avoid the village’s front entrance, food on a new mat and an empty sleeping hut. He follows those instructions, explaining them as his custom. When rain catches his party while tending cattle, his mantle becomes a stone-hard shelter.
The girl’s mother presses a foot into Sikulume’s footprint and turns him into an eland. The daughter restores him by driving the animal into a fire, taking out the resulting coal and placing it in water. During their escape she throws an egg, milksack, pot and smooth stone, creating mist, water, darkness and finally an impassable rock face. Her father is delayed and turns back. Sikulume returns with his bride and becomes a chief. The bride’s restoration and obstacles remain her acts, while the elderly helpers, mouse and little man supply distinct assistance across his journey.
Origins & earliest records
Theal’s introduction identifies Xhosa contributors for the main collection; his preface attributes narration, writing and collective revision to contributors while he directed the work and supplied notes. No individual narrator is named for this selected tale.
Records & interpretation
Complete selected narrative independently read: The Story of Sikulume, pp. 78–88; speech p. 80, assagai and escape pp. 81–83, monster p. 84, courtship and eland restoration pp. 85–88.
In the literature
“he began to talk at once.”
THE STORY OF SIKULUME. Complete selected published episode, printed pp.78–88 · Episode’s individual English translator not identified
The initially speechless chief’s son speaks after catching his assigned beautiful bird. He returns for it despite cannibals and survives with help, distracts pursuit using a running mantle and a little man’s rock hut, then kills the river devourer and restores its living captives. Later he persists in courtship, follows a mouse-skin warning, is turned into an eland, restored by his intended wife and escapes with her through successive obstacles; he returns married and becomes a great chief. The birds are replacements for lost sons in the father’s wish, not expressly transformed biological sons.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Kaffir Folk-Lore, second edition
The Story of Sikulume, pp. 78–88; speech p. 80, assagai and escape pp. 81–83, monster p. 84, courtship and eland restoration pp. 85–88.; preface and introductory chapter for contributor context.
- 02
Kaffir Folk-Lore — Sikulume complete selected episode
Actual1886 second edition, London Swan Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey, independently read title; preface datedJan1882. Theal directs native telling/copying/revision and claims only explanatory notes as his own. Individual episode tellers and English translators not identified in inspected text.
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.
Kaffir Folk-Lore — Sikulume complete selected episode
Actual1886 second edition, London Swan Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey, independently read title; preface datedJan1882. Theal directs native telling/copying/revision and claims only explanatory notes as his own. Individual episode tellers and English translators not identified in inspected text.
- The initially speechless chief’s son speaks after catching his assigned beautiful bird. He returns for it despite cannibals and survives with help, distracts pursuit using a running mantle and a little man’s rock hut, then kills the river devourer and restores its living captives. Later he persists in courtship, follows a mouse-skin warning, is turned into an eland, restored by his intended wife and escapes with her through successive obstacles; he returns married and becomes a great chief. The birds are replacements for lost sons in the father’s wish, not expressly transformed biological sons.
THE STORY OF SIKULUME. Complete selected published episode, printed pp.78–88
No whole collection/introduction or original oral recording reviewed. Publication-fragment status retained where editor states it; colonial racial hierarchies and descriptions not endorsed.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Collected primary narrative; digitized second editionTheal 1886 — SikulumeResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.