A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The girl of this selected early-race account makes celestial lights from things within her reach. She puts her hands into wood ashes and throws them into the sky, telling them to become the Milky Way. The resulting band lies white above, with stars outside it. The tale follows their movement: the stars sail along their footprints, turn with the Milky Way, set and come out again. Its faint glow gives people enough light to travel home during the night.
The girl also throws up roots called |huin, which become stars. A note distinguishes red, older roots making red stars from white, younger roots making white ones. She is angry that her mother has not supplied enough roots for her to eat abundantly. She is in a little hut made by her mother and is dependent on women bringing food, rather than going out to dig it herself. That household circumstance accompanies the act of star-making; the account does not name her or make her a detached ruler with a supplied celestial court.
The surrounding explanations add that the same girl made locusts by throwing up the peel of another edible root, |kuissi. A separate note calls her the first girl of the early race and says that her husband finally shot her; that reported later fate is not expanded into an unprinted marriage episode. The last portion of the selected text concerns her fear that eating young men’s game would affect their hunting equipment, while she ate game from her father. These source-specific circumstances remain alongside her creation of light without reproducing the accompanying observance instructions.
Origins & earliest records
Bleek and Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folklore (1911), III.—23, The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars, pp. 72–79. Original p. 72 note identifies ||kabbo, whose mother |kwi-an told him this story.
Records & interpretation
Complete III.—23 text and notes read through its continuation at the beginning of p. 79. Ashes/Milky Way and roots/stars are narrative actions; locust-making and later death by the husband are separately printed note evidence. No personal name, first oral date or extended unprinted marriage plot is supplied.
In the literature
“threw up the wood ashes into the sky.”
III.—23, The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars; complete pp.72–79 and all notes; brief prose p.73 · Bleek–Lloyd original English translation; Lucy C. Lloyd, editor
A hungry girl throws wood ashes into the sky, forming the Milky Way, whose gentle light permits night travel. Roots form stars, with different root ages/colors giving red and white stars; a note also credits her with making locusts from root peel. The p.73 note says that her husband eventually shoots her, though the main narrative does not stage that event. No resurrection is given.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Specimens of Bushman Folklore
III.—23, complete pp. 72–79, including contributor/maternal source note and separate star-colour, locust and later-death notes.
- 02
Specimens of Bushman Folklore — III.—23, The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars; complete pp.72–79 and all notes
London: George Allen & Company,1911; original bilingual edition. Complete selected English case and notes read; original contributor and excerpt pages independently viewed. Printed pages distinguished from inserted plates and access indices.
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.
Specimens of Bushman Folklore
London: George Allen & Company,1911; original bilingual edition. Complete selected English case and notes read; original contributor and excerpt pages independently viewed. Printed pages distinguished from inserted plates and access indices.
- A hungry girl throws wood ashes into the sky, forming the Milky Way, whose gentle light permits night travel. Roots form stars, with different root ages/colors giving red and white stars; a note also credits her with making locusts from root peel. The p.73 note says that her husband eventually shoots her, though the main narrative does not stage that event. No resurrection is given.
III.—23, The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars; complete pp.72–79 and all notes
No entire volume, original performance/manuscript or independent |Xam translation read. Adjacent prayer excluded. Historical text public domain does not imply blanket cultural/image permissions.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected narrative and explanatory notesOriginal 1911 bilingual edition: The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made StarsResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
