ǀKaggen (more accurately ǀKágge̥n or ǀKaggən, sometimes corrupted to Cagn and sometimes called Mantis) is a

demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the Demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. Various sects of Gnostics adopted the term '' ...

and folk hero of the San people of

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. He is a

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherw ...

god who can shape shift, usually taking the form of a

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

but also a bull eland, a

louse Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order (biology), order, until a 2021 genetic stud ...

, a

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

, and a

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

.Bleek (1875
A brief account of Bushman folklore and other texts
/ref>

Shapeshifting

ǀKaggen is a

who is able to shape shift into the form of any animal.Stookey, p.184 He is most frequently represented as a praying mantis but also takes the form of a bull eland, a

, a

, and a

.Hastings, p.522Meletinsky, p.169 His wife, ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n (sometimes spelled as Coti), is represented as a

marmot Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus ''Marmota'', with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, w ...

or rather a Cape hyrax and is known as the mother of bees.Moore, p.113Lewis-Williams (2000), p.143 Their adopted daughter is represented as a

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

Eland myth

One of the first animals created by ǀKaggen, and his favourite, was the eland.McNamee, p.52 ǀKaggen's wife ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n gave birth to the eland, and ǀKaggen hid it near a secluded cliff to let it grow. One day his sons, Cogaz and Gewi, were out hunting. Not knowing their father's love for the eland, they killed it.Solomon, p.63 ǀKaggen was angry, and told Gewi to put the blood from the dead eland into a pot and churn it.McNamee, p.53 Blood spattered from the pot onto the ground and turned into snakes. ǀKaggen was displeased. Next, Gewi scattered the blood, and it turned into

hartebeest The hartebeest (; ''Alcelaphus buselaphus''), also known as kongoni or kaama, is an Fauna of Africa, African antelope. It is the Monotypic taxon, only member of the genus ''Alcelaphus''. Eight subspecies have been described, including two som ...

s. Again, ǀKaggen was unhappy. He told ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n to clean the pot and add more blood from the eland, with fat from the heart. She churned it, and ǀKaggen sprinkled the mixture on the ground. It turned into a large herd of eland. This was how ǀKaggen gave meat to his people to hunt and eat. The Bushmen attribute the wildness of the eland to the fact that ǀKaggen's sons killed it before it was ready to be hunted, spoiling it.

Mongoose (ichneumon) variation

The scholar David Lewis-Williams recounts a variation of the eland myth involving the

meerkat The meerkat (''Suricata suricatta'') or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body ...

s. ǀKaggen's daughter the porcupine married the meerkat, ''kwammang-a''. They had the

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, A ...

as a son. The mongoose was close to his grandfather ǀKaggen.Barnard, p.84 ǀKaggen used to take

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

to feed his favourite, the eland.Lewis-Williams (2000), p.145 The people were curious as to what ǀKaggen was doing with the honey, so they sent the mongoose to spy on him and find out. When the mongoose saw ǀKaggen giving honey to the eland, he reported his discovery to his brothers, the meerkats.Lewis-Williams (2000), p.146 While ǀKaggen was out gathering honey, the meerkats persuaded the mongoose to show them where the eland was.Lewis-Williams (2000), p.148 They called the eland out of its hiding place and killed it.

References

Notes

Sources