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The Old Woman with the Hump, a MythSource painting
Bisa

The Old Woman with the Hump

01Identity

The Old Woman with the Hump in Bisa tradition

The unnamed old woman with a hump is the central figure in a Bisa story performed by Laudon Ndalazi and recorded in Robert Cancel’s 2013 book. A hunter repeatedly passes her on his way into the bush but does not share the animals he catches. The tale turns when the woman becomes a green mamba and kills his dog, then later places her hump on the hunter’s child while the family sleeps at her house. The hunter’s quick answer persuades her to take the hump back.

Cancel’s commentary connects the performance to a real woman known in the area, but does not identify that person as the story character. It notes that the local woman had a hunched back and was known for conflict with neighbours; the performer’s tale, however, is not presented as a report of those events. The English rendering calls its character a woman, while a translator’s note says the source term is not gender-marked and explains the choice as contextual. This profile therefore follows only the source-framed figure in Ndalazi’s single recorded telling.

SourceStorytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013): Chapter IV, Bisa Storytelling 1, performed by Laudon Ndalazi, pp. 131–134

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of The Old Woman with the Hump

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

The Old Woman and the Hunter’s Child

A hunter takes his dog and child into the bush, keeping the game he catches instead of sharing it with an old woman whose path he passes. After the woman decides he has been too stingy, she becomes a green mamba. The snake strikes and kills the dog. The hunter and child turn back, and as daylight fades they stop at the woman’s house. He gives her the small animal they have caught, and she prepares food and gives them a place to sleep.

During the night, the woman moves her hump onto the sleeping child’s back. The boy wakes in pain, and his father sees that he has been deformed. Rather than accuse their host, the hunter tells the child that the hump is valuable and that they can sell it. The woman hears them discussing their new wealth. When the pair set out, she calls them back and asks to reclaim the hump so they can share the money. The hunter refuses; she takes it back onto her own back. He and his child leave together.

The Old Woman and the Hunter’s Child, a MythSource painting of the scene

6 sources· checked 2026-10-03

  1. 1Storytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013)T1
  2. 2Storytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013)T1
  3. 3Storytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013)T1
  4. 4Storytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013)T1
  5. 5Storytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013)T1
  6. 6Storytelling in Northern Zambia (Robert Cancel, 2013)T1