Where the Bushmen Came from

Days bygone long, long long ago there was a great grand-mother ma-gogo who's name was Um-Borose. She was our mother and she came from the Sun and lived on the ground, she had a dog, which today is known a Wild dog. One day, as Um-Borose was feeding the dog the dog attacked her suddenly unexpected the dog bit her by the throat and killing her.

There were some Ostriches also near and they saw everything that had happened they had a terrible fright and flew up perched high in a giant camel-thorn tree. Just that moment the ancient madala Ause-Djuba happened to be passing and saw all that happened.

As he looked from under their wings the fire blushed of shame, in fury of their cowardice he ordered for them to come down. “Why did you not help the woman?”, “You are so cowardly and fearful for yourself you will never fly again from today on you will walk on the ground”.

Ause-Djuba went to where Um-Borose lay and prodded her with his arrow where she lay to see if she was really dead.

To great surprise a human came from the hole in Um-Borose's side, he pricked again and another human jumped out, he kept on pricking the dead body again and again and again and once more each time a human came out, many many people came out and through the bush and plains wandered away across the wilderness.

These people from her innards became the first bushmen and the old man Ause-Djuba instructed them to build shelters of branches and grass, to keep the fields sow, harvest and live in the wilds with the animals, to hunt eat and live on the earth the bush and sands of the desert Kgalagadi.

~

Told by Modumo of the Khuba, South-East Kalahari in Botswana.