Tololi-phatšoa

Overview

Tololi-phatšoa is the extraordinary ox of the second Senkatana account. After the young rescuer releases a swallowed population from Kholumolumo, grateful people give him cattle and recognize him as chief. Their gratitude becomes hostility towards a boy who governs them. While herding in the veldt, Senkatana asks his ox what is happening. It describes a concealed pit at his customary seat and warns him not to sit there. The boy refuses the invitation when he returns. Jacottet glosses the ox’s praise-name as a black animal with white stripes and spots.

Visitors from another village demand the ox and threaten its owner when he refuses. He finally permits them to take it, but they drive their own companions instead of the animal. Senkatana must accompany them. Attempts to slaughter and prepare the ox repeatedly turn upon the people carrying them out. The boy is asked to address his companion at each stage, and the ox consents before the work can proceed. The narration extends that confusion to preparations of pots and distribution of food. These successive reversals make the ox an active participant even after its apparent death.

Senkatana refuses his portion while the whole village, including children, eats the meat. The next morning he approaches the pegged-out skin and calls his companion home. The animal rises with its body whole and its bones restored. Those who ate it die, with their children and dogs. The pair leaves together. This version expressly places restoration after the meal; Jacottet’s note compares accounts where slaughtered cattle revive before their flesh is eaten, and another where ancestral spirits consume it instead. Those are different outcomes.

Back at his parents’ home, Senkatana receives bread from his mother. Tololi-phatšoa warns that she has poisoned it, and he declines to eat. His father eats the bread and dies while the mother is away in the gardens. The ox points to that death as confirmation of its warning. The tale ends there: neither a punishment for the mother nor a later fate for the ox is supplied. Its repeated foreknowledge and restored body belong to this particular companion, rather than to every animal in the herd.

Origins & earliest records

Jacottet XII supplies the named ox in his second collected Senkatana version. No individual narrator is identified in the inspected tale. Collector comparisons with other returning cattle are kept separate.

Records & interpretation

XII, Moshanyana oa Senkatana, complete bilingual pp. 76–81; English pp. 76, 78 and 80. Named ox and pit warning p. 76; repeated substituted victims and consent p. 78; eaten flesh, bodily restoration, deaths and final bread warning p. 80. Praise-name gloss p. 77.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I

   Édouard Jacottet, collector and translator; J. C. Smith, English text assistance · 1908

   XII, Moshanyana oa Senkatana, complete bilingual pp. 76–81; English pp. 76, 78 and 80. Named ox and pit warning p. 76; repeated substituted victims and consent p. 78; eaten flesh, bodily restoration, deaths and final bread warning p. 80. Praise-name gloss p. 77.

2. 02

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I

   Unnamed Sesotho narrative contributor; Édouard Jacottet, editor and translator; J. C. Smith, English text correction · 1908

   The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I, Morija/London, 1908, actual title-page OCR. Full preface and introduction xxii collection statement read; complete XII, Moshanyana oa Senkatana, bilingual printed pp.76–81, English pp.76/78/80 and full 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.

References

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

1. Collected Se-Suto text with English translation and notesJacottet — complete second Senkatana versionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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