This made
the other girl jealous, and she plotted revenge, which
she carried out one day by pushing her rival over the
edge of a rock, so that she fell into the river and was
drowned. The corpse was, however, found by her favorite
ox, who licked her till her life came back, and as soon
as she was strong once more she told what had happened.
When the young chief heard the story he was angry with
the dark wife and said to her: "Go home to your father;
I never wanted you at all; it was your mother who
brought you to me." So she had to go away in sorrow and
Mbulukazi remained the great wife of the chief.
In this interesting story there are two suspicious details. Theal says
he has taken care in his collection not to give a single sentence that
did not come from native sources. He calls attention, however, to the
fact that tens of thousands of Kaffirs have adopted the religion of
Europeans and have accepted ideas from their teachers, wherefore "it
will surprise no one to learn that these tales are already undergoing
great changes among a very large section of the natives on the
border." I suspect that the touch of sentiment in the place where the
young chief will accept a drink from the girl's hand alone is such a
case of European influence, and so, in all probability is the
preference for a light complexion implied in the tale; for Shooter (p.
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