A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The lion approaches the hut where Sekholomi and his attendants sleep after he has delivered the marriage cattle. Warned by his gall-bladder companion, they hide in the rafters. The lion finds no guests and goes to its mother to ask where they are. She sends it back, but it repeatedly misses the hidden party. A second night repeats the unsuccessful search and consultation.
In daylight the lion hears Sekholomi’s praise-song and comes roaring to his grazing place. Following the companion’s warnings, Sekholomi takes refuge by an ox and manoeuvres around it until he can kill the pursuer with his spear. At home he reports that the creature troubling him at night is dead. The lion’s keepers weep because it was their child.
The main narration does not show an earlier human body or a transformation into lion form. Jacottet’s note proposes that it was probably a young man transformed by witchcraft, drawing a werewolf comparison. That proposal remains the collector’s interpretation. The directly narrated identifying evidence is the lion’s speech, its relationship with a mother and the household’s mourning of it as a child.
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.
- 01
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I
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.
- 02
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I
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.
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I
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.
- A lion repeatedly seeks Sekholomi’s party in the bride’s household and is killed during a cattle-herding encounter.
Jacottet says the lion was probably a young man transformed by witchcraft; that is a conjecture, not a narrated transformation. The body calls its mother and grieving masters, without naming them or establishing its precise biological relation to Takalasi. No European werewolf identity imported. No specific storyteller assigned from the volume-level contributor list; J. C. Smith’s English correction credited.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- 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.