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Specimens of Bushman Folklore, by W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd, [1911], at sacred-texts.com


HOW TTO IS OBTAINED.

Tto is in the mountain, the tto mine; the people say that the tto mine is on the side of the mountain, the people say 'tto mine' to it.

The people are afraid of it [that is, of the sorcerers who live by the mine], because the people are aware that people are there (sorcerers). They (the sorcerers) make a house[1] there. Therefore, the people who intend to pound tto, rub themselves when they (go to) collect tto. And when they go to the tto, they throw stones at the tto mine, when they wish the sorcerers to bide themselves, that they may go undisturbed to work at the tto, while they feel that the sorcerers dwell at the tto mine. Therefore, they take up stones, they throw stones at the tto mine, when they wish the sorcerers to hide themselves, that they may go in peace[2] to work at the tto. And they go to work at the tto, tto, tto. They also get ||hara;[3] they put away the ||hara and the tto, and they return home.

[1. The narrator thinks that their houses are small holes, like mouse-holes.

2. For, they would be ill, if the sorcerers saw them.

3. The ||hara mine [literally, "mouth" or "opening "] is in a different place; the tto mine is also in a different place.]

 


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