The Northern Black Korhaan – guardian of the lands

Bogologolo tala, majwe a sante a le metsi, dinonyane di sante di bua …. A very, very long time ago, when the rocks were still soft and the birds still spoke, there was a great furore in the land of Chief Kgori, the Kori Bustard. He was, of course, the paramount chief of all the terrestrial birds, a wealthy tribe of pastoralists who owned vast tracts of grazing land. They included Tlatlagwe the Black Korhaan, Kegamakalo the White-bellied Korhaan, Mokgweba the Red-crested Korhaan, Mongwangwa the Spotted Dikkop, Letheetsane the Crowned Lapwing, Segolagolane the Double-banded Courser, Sebotha the Lark, Lekutukubii the Namaqua Sandgrouse, Mokgwarakgwara Burchell’s Sandgrouse, and many others.

Chief Kgori charged Tlatlagwe with trespassing on his land. He had spoken to Tlatlagwe and warned him, but to no avail, and so now all the tribesmen were there, gathered in the kgotla. Chief Kgori presented his case while the assembled multitude listened with shock and disapproval. Eventually the Chief completed his statement, and Tlatlagwe was called upon to present his defence. He jumped up onto a termite mound, the better to be seen and heard. ‘Ah!’ he exclaimed, ‘I bought all that land! It is mine!’

There were murmurs and gasps of amazement from the assembly, and Mokgweba shot up into the air and came tumbling back to earth and whistled repeatedly to express his surprise. Over and over again Mongwangwa lamented this display of arrogance with mournful whistles, and Kegamakalo was so shocked that he could only reiterate hoarsely A kgakgamatso! A kgakge! A kgakge! ….. ‘What an amazing thing! Incredible! Incredible! …..’ ‘Well’, said Chief Kgori craftily, ‘if you bought the land you had better show us its boundaries.’ Tlatlagwe was by now very excited and rather angry.

A! he shouted again as he leapt up and started flying around a large tract of country, Kene kaya kwa kareka kwa, kaba kaya kakwa kareka kwa, kaba katla kafa kareka fa, gape katla kafa kareka fa, kareka kwa, kareka kwa … lekafa … lekafa … lefa … lefa … lefa … ‘I went there and I bought there, and then I went over there and bought there, and then I came around here and I bought here, and furthermore I came around here and I bought here, and I bought there, and I bought there … and around here …and around here … and here … and here … and here …

Now Kgori was a very wise old chief, and also very much impressed by the way in which Tlatlagwe had presented his case. So he appointed Tlatlagwe forthwith to be the guardian of all his lands, with the instruction that he should carry out regular inspections. And so it is that to this day, from early morning until after sunset, you will see Tlatlagwe fly up periodically to inspect Chief Kgori’s lands, calling out loudly, Kene kaya kwa kareka kwa, kaba katla kafa kareka fa, kaba kaya kakwa kareka kwa, kareka kwa, kareka kwa … lekafa … lekafa … lefa … lefa … lefa …

Desmond T Cole

Photo's: P Hancock

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