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Overview

In The Vanishing Wife, Buite has been rejected by his prosperous brother. A beautiful woman appears to him in a dream and teaches him to summon a canoe and its paddles by tapping three times. She asks only that fish be brought to her without their heads. The instructions work, and he comes home to a furnished house, a wife and nine servants.

Buite repeatedly breaks the condition. He intercepts eight messengers and removes the fish heads before they reach her, but the ninth, Parrot, arrives first with whole fish. The house, its furniture, the servants and the wife all disappear.

In the related account, Another Vanishing Wife, fuba-tree leaves complain of being hurt and turn into a woman and her companions when Mavungu plucks them. She points to her power to transform his body, clothing and fortunes, and he must keep her origin secret. Her warning once stops him from revealing it to hostile relatives, but he later tells everything. His fine clothes vanish as he speaks, and on returning he finds wife and town gone.

Beautiful human appearanceAppears through a dream (tale V)Transformation from fuba-tree leaves into a woman with companions (tale VI)Grants a household, servants and prosperityImposes a taboo: headless fish (V) or secrecy about her origin (VI)Withdraws everything she gave when the condition is broken
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Origins & earliest records

Recorded by R. E. Dennett and published in Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo), 1898, as tales V and VI. Publication is the earliest attestation inspected here, not evidence of when the oral tradition began.

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Records & interpretation

Tale V, The Vanishing Wife, pp. 39–41; tale VI, Another Vanishing Wife, pp. 42–45, read from the Internet Archive OCR text. Title, author and date confirmed through Internet Archive metadata.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo)

    R. E. Dennett; introduction and appendices by Mary H. Kingsley · 1898

    Selected bibliography; V and VI, pp.39–45. Published in London for the Folk-Lore Society by David Nutt, 1898.

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.

References

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

  1. Digitized public-domain book (OCR text)Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo) — full OCR textResearch access: 2026-10-07
  2. Catalogue metadataInternet Archive metadata for cu31924006487999Research access: 2026-10-07

Image credits

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

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