A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Timba fetches clear water from a river that is inexplicably dry for everyone else. She knows the King of the Waters, a great serpent who courts her at the bank. Preparing to marry him, she recognizes his two promised floods and goes to meet him despite her companions’ alarm. He pays her father’s cattle gift and carries her downstream. She follows him underwater to dry huts furnished with the belongings she prepared for marriage.

In the lonely hut she fears his silent nightly entries but keeps her promise not to be afraid. After the third encounter the surroundings return above water and the serpent becomes a handsome human chief. Her endurance has ended the curse placed on him by an enemy magician. He gives her a carved staff that brings magical victory, and they leave to seek a kingdom together.

In Volha-Volha’s country she notices the frightened women and few children, then discovers that their hostess Siapi is hiding a baby from the ruler’s discriminatory killing. Timba promises safety, stamps her staff and summons a kindly supernatural woman to take the infant to Siapi’s sister. During her husband’s campaign against the tyrant, she grips the staff day and night, thwarting the defenders’ magicians. After victory she sends for the baby, restoring it alive to its mother.

Finally she accompanies her husband homeward when her own people suffer from a dry river. At his instruction she raises the staff and commands the water, and the returning couple brings a restored flood. Their reunion with her father makes peace and joins the two communities. Her staff-mediated action is explicit; the story does not give her the serpent’s bodily form or present the fictional king’s persecution as customary practice.

Fearless marriage trialMagic staffSummons infant rescuerCounters hostile spellsCommands restored water
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Origins & earliest records

Sarah F. Bourhill and Beatrice L. Drake collected and arranged this two-part English tale. Its Shangani label is explicit, but no episode narrator is named. The profile preserves literary narration and does not treat its tyrant’s discriminatory acts as history or community custom.

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Records & interpretation

The Serpent’s Bride, parts I and II, complete printed pp. 78–114, read through the final river restoration and joining of communities.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Fairy Tales from South Africa

    Sarah F. Bourhill and Beatrice L. Drake, collectors and arrangers · 1908

    VIII–IX. The Serpent’s Bride, parts I and II, pp. 78–114; complete published English arrangement.

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.

Primary source witness

Sarah F. Bourhill (Mrs. E. J. Bourhill) and Beatrice L. Drake (Mrs. J. B. Drake), Fairy Tales from South Africa, London: Macmillan, 1908; selected original title page and complete headed tales in PG75833. Arranged for children; introduction pp.v–xi attributes principally Swazi, also Zulu and border-region contributions, with Shining Princess attributed to Mapoch. Individual narrators for these selected tales unnamed. Historical colonial framing is not current community consensus.

  1. Unlike her sisters, Timba obtains clear water from the serpent ruler and agrees to marry him. She waits through isolated journeys and frightening night visits, maintaining her promise despite fear. His release from enchantment occurs after the third encounter; no claim that she never emotionally feels fear replaces the actual narrative.

    VIII, pp.79–98; voluntary marriage and courage

  2. Timba discovers Siapi hiding a baby, summons a helpful fairy to transport the infant to Siapi’s sister and later remains holding the staff throughout the campaign. The account gives her an active role in thwarting enemy magic, not merely attendance beside a victorious husband.

    IX, pp.105–111; protection of Siapi’s infant and sustained defence

  3. After victory she arranges the baby’s return. She later directs the waters to rise and visits her own father with her husband, ending in political union. The saved infant is Siapi’s daughter, not Timba’s child; no offspring of Timba and the king is shown.

    IX, pp.112–114; infant reunion and political ending

Selected historical arrangement, not unmediated original-language oral testimony. Individual contributor not named; no separate manuscript inspected. Original facsimile not visually inspected in this batch.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected historical tale in an English literary retellingBourhill and Drake — The Serpent’s Bride, parts I and IIResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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