The Day's Heart star buries his child alive and goes away. Other creatures come by including the child's mother. The father gives the daughter directions in a speech in which he tells her her name and the doings of various animals and stars, such as ||ko hai. He also tells her about the behaviour of people and what they must do in their daily lives with food and so on, and about the heavens and their creation. <i>The Stars are divided into night stars and dawn stars ... The 'Dawn's Heart' (the star Jupiter) has a daughter, who is identified with some neighbouring star preceding Jupiter (at the time when we asked, it was Regulus or Alpha Leonis). Her name is the 'Dawn's-Heart-child', and her relation to her father is somewhat mysterious. Besides a short statement of the nature of the Dawn's-Heart, and of his child (L II.-2. 292 and 293), we have two long pieces. The first of these begins with a short narrative of only eleven columns, and then gives a very long discourse from the Dawn's-Heart to his daughter, which treats not only of their own history and that of the lynx-mother, but also of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and of the habits of different animals. </i>
Comments
1) The Day's Heart star is also known as the Dawn's-Heart star (in <i>Specimens of Bushman Folklore</i>), 2) p.1444v: a note on the kaross, which has arms with which to fasten it in front, 3) pp.1439v-1440v and p.1445v: see <i>Jewellery and ornaments worn by women, </i>4) p.1502v: the term 'great' means that the Day's Heart star is grown-up, 5) p.1505v: the place where day breaks, 6) p.1523v: the people cut the game into flaps of flesh, 7) p.1524v: the flesh is beaten and softened after it has dried in the sun, 8) p.1527v: ||kabbo says that wet flesh and dry rice are mixed by pounding them together; people thirst after eating dry rice, 9) p.1528v: houses are made of trees and bushes, 10) p.1529v: Brinkkop, 11) p.1530v: the screen of bushes in which men lie and wait for ostriches and other animals, 12) p.1542v: Kleine Har River, 13) p.1547v: the Groote Hart River and Groote Doorn Boom as well as the names of things in the story, 14) See also <i>More about the Day's Heart star: what he says to his daughter</i> and <i>The story of !ko'-g !nuin-tara or !ko'-g !nuin-tara and the Day's Heart star</i> and <i>Day's Heart</i> and <i>The Day-Heart star child</i>, 15) This story is found in Books II-15 and II-16
Contributions