Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2012
A young man named Nyagumbe starts off to seek a bride. He finds the girl he wants; but while he is staying at her parents' home, she shows no signs of returning his love. He therefore refuses to take the food she prepares for him. The girl's mother advises her to love the young man, and then all will be well. Nyagumbe is secretly amused at his own plans for winning the girl's affection.
page 475 note 1 Ngukanani. Bishop Smythe, in his XiLenge Grammar, gives kanani as ‘down the throat, inside the mouth’.
page 475 note 2 The Banza is the place in the open air where the men congregate together and chat over a fire, or under a tree.
page 476 note 1 The siko is the hearth-circle in the women's hut. The women sit round the fire and tell stories in the evening.
page 476 note 2 Ndanga is the hut used only by young men and boys.
page 477 note 1 Ndungu. This is a cockerel not old enough to crow.
page 481 note 1 Kuravira seems to be the Si-Ndau way of pronouncing gulavela (ki-Lenge). The word does not seem to occur in the actual Si-Ndau language, though I cannot be certain of this. The story is possibly of Ji-Ndau origin, though told in ki-Lenge.
page 482 note 1 Mamanyaa or Mamanyane is the form of address for a daughter-in-law.
page 482 note 2 Kyiuma=the media of akulobola, whether cattle, money, or other goods.
page 482 note 3 Mahumisane was the daughter of the sorceress.