A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The younger girl first survives through observation rather than a stated magical origin. A group goes to dig onions where one girl has previously met several men, including a man with one functioning eye. The child notices many footprints that do not fit the first girl’s claim to have been alone. She looks about, finds an ant-eater’s hole and sees the men approaching. When the one-eyed man plays a reed pipe, she understands its threat of bloodshed, while the older girls dance and dismiss her warning. She ties her sister’s cloak to her own and gets the two of them out during the noisy dancing. The girls who remain are killed.
To obscure their route, the younger sister follows the elder while walking backwards in her footprints, leaving one set of tracks pointed in the wrong direction. They hide in the hole and cover themselves with cobwebs. The one-eyed man sees them but his companions repeatedly fail to do so. A spear thrust through the upper part of the hole strikes the elder girl’s heel; the younger wipes blood off the weapon and prevents a revealing cry. When the companions leave to drink and assign the one-eyed man to watch, she challenges him about his own thirst. He goes away too, allowing both sisters to leave the hiding place.
The younger carries her injured sister across an open plain. Their pursuers see them and close in. At this point both girls change into thorn trees called Wait-a-bit, and their beads become gum upon the trees. The men eat the gum and fall asleep. While they sleep, the girls smear more gum over their eyes and leave. The text does not separately describe a reverse transformation, but once again presents the sisters as mobile agents performing these actions. The one-eyed man wakes and alerts his companions; they remove the gum and pursue again. The sisters reach their home safely and tell their parents what happened. Their household mourns the lost girls and stays home rather than launching a rescue search.
Bleek calls the tale The Little Wise Woman and identifies Krönlein’s manuscript page 53. Its represented tree transformation belongs to these sisters’ last escape, alongside the child’s earlier practical concealments. The men are described as murderous people; one-eyed sight is not silently recast as a separate giant or ogre species. The selected printed witness gives neither sister a personal name or identifies the individual teller.
Origins & earliest records
Bleek 1864, tale 41, identifies G. Krönlein’s original-language manuscript p. 53 in Sir George Grey’s Library. The preface supplies the collection intermediary’s Beerseba context, but no individual contributor is named for this episode.
Records & interpretation
Complete tale 41 was read through the safe return and final mourning. The transformation and gum effects are explicit; an unstated reverse-transformation procedure is not added. The one-eyed antagonist remains a man as the source represents him.
In the literature
“When they came near, the two girls turned themselves into thorn trees”
VIII, tale41 — The Little Wise Woman; whole tale · W. H. I. Bleek, English translator/editor
A wise little girl follows older onion gatherers and sees danger from a one-eyed man’s group. She quietly escapes with her elder sister while the others are killed. Hidden in a hole, the older girl is wounded but remains silent. On their flight both turn into thorn trees, their beads into gum. The pursuers eat and sleep; the sisters blind them temporarily with gum and reach their parents safely. They return to human action by the ending; the other girls are not rescued.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales
Tale 41, The Little Wise Woman, complete; printed manuscript p. 53.
- 02
Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales — VIII, tale41 — The Little Wise Woman
London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.
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.
Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales
London: Trübner and Co.,1864; selected Gutenberg73413 title-page transcription and originalpublication metadata agree. Tale-number locators retained; digital bracket page markers are not asserted as visually verified printed pagination.
- A wise little girl follows older onion gatherers and sees danger from a one-eyed man’s group. She quietly escapes with her elder sister while the others are killed. Hidden in a hole, the older girl is wounded but remains silent. On their flight both turn into thorn trees, their beads into gum. The pursuers eat and sleep; the sisters blind them temporarily with gum and reach their parents safely. They return to human action by the ending; the other girls are not rescued.
No entire volume or original cited manuscript/Alexander edition read. Preface11–12 collection-method passage read; remaining prefatory racial/linguistic hypotheses not endorsed or presented as established origin.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translated collected narrativeBleek 1864, The Little Wise WomanResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.