A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Sun-Armpit begins as a person sleeping on earth, with light shining from his armpit when he raises his elbow. The people are cold, and one old woman asks another to send her clever young male children to lift him. The first woman has no such children herself. The mother tells them to wait until he sleeps, approach gently and take hold together, so that they can throw him into the sky. Their purpose is to spread warmth and light beyond the place where he lies and to dry the food that the translation calls Bushman rice.
The children wait, creep forward, pause to look and finally lift the hot old man together. They throw him up and tell him to remain above and become the hot Sun. Returning home, the older boys explain how companions and younger brothers all helped to grasp him firmly. The account connects his passage across the sky with the coming of daylight, warm summer ground, travel and being able to see other people and hunted animals. The communal work and the women’s planning remain part of this origin episode.
The narrative also sets the Sun against the Moon. The Sun pierces the Moon with a knife, causing it to diminish; the Moon asks him to leave its backbone for the children. The Sun agrees and stops. The Moon painfully returns home, grows a new stomach and becomes whole again. This continuation gives the two celestial bodies actions and a relationship within the same account, rather than merely describing the Sun’s first ascent.
The edition separately prints explanations from a longer second version told by ||kabbo, whose complete tale is not included. In those remarks the Sun’s original light reaches only the area around his dwelling: raising his arm gives brightness, lowering it brings darkness. His light is described as white by day and red like fire by night. Once thrown into the sky he becomes round and never becomes a man again. The notes also distinguish this former man from the early race, although the children who lift him are assigned to that race. These are variant explanations, not details silently assigned to every line of the first telling.
Origins & earliest records
Bleek and Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folklore (1911), II.—15, The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky, pp. 44–55, with separately printed second-version notes continuing on pp. 54–57. Preface p. xi explicitly states that pieces without prefixed contributor names were dictated by ||kabbo, supporting attribution of the first account; the second version names him directly. No precise first-account dictation date is supplied here.
Records & interpretation
Complete first narrative and printed second-version remarks/notes read, pp. 44–57; the edition’s contributor convention checked in Preface p. xi. Both accounts are attributed to ||kabbo on those distinct grounds. The second version is expressly not reproduced in full; its included notes support only the specified variant details.
In the literature
“his armpit shone upon the ground”
II.—15, The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky; complete pp.44–55 with Further Remarks/notes through57; exact prose excerpt p.47 · Bleek–Lloyd original English translation; Lucy C. Lloyd, editor. B./L. are prior report designations, not by themselves independent collector proof (Preface x).
Two older women arrange for one woman’s children to lift the sleeping Sun, whose raised elbow reveals his shining armpit. The children throw him into the sky and return to explain what happened. The Sun provides general light and heat. The later Moon passage depicts its painful waning under the Sun’s knife and return to a whole new moon; no fixed biological relationship to the boys is established by grandfather address.
“it became round, and never was a man afterwards.”
II.—15, The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky; complete pp.44–55 with Further Remarks/notes through57; exact prose excerpt p.55 · Bleek–Lloyd original English translation; Lucy C. Lloyd, editor. B./L. are prior report designations, not by themselves independent collector proof (Preface x).
The Further Remarks preserve notes from a second version whose complete narrative was too long to print in this volume. ||kabbo explains that the Sun formerly lived at his own house and lit only nearby ground, with white daylight and red night light. After being thrown into the sky he becomes round and no longer a man. Translated notes say Sun and Moon formerly spoke on earth but no longer speak in the sky.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Specimens of Bushman Folklore
II.—15, complete first narrative pp. 44–55; Further Remarks and printed second-version notes pp. 54–57, explicitly credited to ||kabbo. Preface p. xi supplies the first account’s ||kabbo attribution through the stated unnamed-heading convention.
- 02
Specimens of Bushman Folklore — II.—15, The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky; complete pp.44–55 with Further Remarks/notes through57
London: George Allen & Company,1911; original bilingual edition. Selected printed pages 47/55/56/59/63 visually checked; English narrative/notes read in original OCR. Marginal manuscript numbers, printed pages and access-image indices distinguished.
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. Selected printed pages 47/55/56/59/63 visually checked; English narrative/notes read in original OCR. Marginal manuscript numbers, printed pages and access-image indices distinguished.
- Two older women arrange for one woman’s children to lift the sleeping Sun, whose raised elbow reveals his shining armpit. The children throw him into the sky and return to explain what happened. The Sun provides general light and heat. The later Moon passage depicts its painful waning under the Sun’s knife and return to a whole new moon; no fixed biological relationship to the boys is established by grandfather address.
- The Further Remarks preserve notes from a second version whose complete narrative was too long to print in this volume. ||kabbo explains that the Sun formerly lived at his own house and lit only nearby ground, with white daylight and red night light. After being thrown into the sky he becomes round and no longer a man. Translated notes say Sun and Moon formerly spoke on earth but no longer speak in the sky.
No entire volume, original performance/manuscript archive or unprinted second Sun version read. No independent |Xam translation. No ritual/prayer/food-protocol derivation.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected narrative and separately printed variant notesOriginal 1911 bilingual edition: The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the SkyResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
