was very, very long. Uthlakanyana went inside and pushed the needle for
him. He thatched in the hair of the cannibal, tying it very tightly; he
knotted it into the thatch constantly, taking it by separate locks and
fastening it firmly, that it might be tightly fastened to the house."
Then the rogue went outside and began to eat of the cow which was
roasted. "The cannibal said, 'What are you about, child of my sister?
Let us just finish the house; afterwards we can do that; we will do it
together.' Uthlakanyana replied, 'Come down then. I cannot go into the
house any more. The thatching is finished.' The cannibal assented. When
he thought he was going to quit the house, he was unable to quit it.
He cried out saying, 'Child of my sister, how have you managed your
thatching?' Uthlakanyana said, 'See to it yourself. I have thatched
well, for I shall not have any dispute. Now I am about to eat in peace;
I no longer dispute with anybody, for I am now alone with my cow.'"
So the cannibal cried and raved and appealed in vain to Uthlakanyana's
sense of justice, until by and by "the sky came with hailstones and
lightning Uthlakanyana took all the meat into the house; he stayed in
the house and lit a fire. It hailed and rained. The cannibal cried on
the top of the house; he was struck with the hailstones, and died there
on the house. It cleared. Uthlakanyana went out and said, 'Uncle, just
come down, and come to me. It has become clear. It no longer rains, and
there is no more hail, neither is there any more lightning. Why are you
silent?' So Uthlakanyana ate his cow alone, until he had finished it. He
then went on his way." [144]
In another Zulu legend, a girl is stolen by cannibals, and shut up
in the rock Itshe-likantunjambili, which, like the rock of the Forty
Thieves, opens and shuts at the command of those who understand its
secret. She gets possession of the secret and escapes, and when the
monsters pursue her she throws on the ground a calabash full of sesame,
which they stop to eat. At last, getting tired of running, she climbs a
tree, and there she finds her brother, who, warned by a dream, has come
out to look for her. They ascend the tree together until they come to a
beautiful country well stocked with fat oxen. They kill an ox, and while
its flesh is roasting they amuse themselves by making a stout thong of
its hide. By and by one of the cannibals, smelling the cooking meat,
comes to the foot of the tree, and looking
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