Kalyaneka

A hunter living in the bush meets a woman and asks to marry her. She asks whether he will follow her rules, and he agrees. When she asks his name, he calls himself Kalyaneka; she repeats the name with an eating-alone gloss. They marry and have six children. Kalyaneka offers each child sorcery, saying it could give them respect. The first five refuse, saying they are Christians and do not want it. The youngest agrees, and Kalyaneka gives him the power.

They set out for Mporokoso. Halfway, thirst grips the boy. Seeing people carrying water from a distant source, he asks one of them for a drink; the water carrier answers that the source is far away and tells him to fetch water himself. He complains that the power his father gave him is useless if he cannot use it, and threatens to bewitch them. Kalyaneka calms him. Later, the boy asks for cassava and is told to bring money; he again threatens to bewitch them, and his father tells him to be patient. At dusk they enter a village where siblings are arguing about who was born first. Kalyaneka warns the boy about trying to bewitch people, but the boy uses his power against one of the disputants, who dies. The teller ends by explaining a saying that associates an elder losing the way with a strange sign in hyena dung.