Untombinde, the Tall Maiden
Zulu folktale · izinganekwane
Kwesukasukela. Untombinde was the daughter of a king, a maiden taller and more beautiful than any other. She longed to see the great pool of the dread monster Usilosimapundu, whose body was like the earth itself, covered with hills and rivers. Her father forbade it, for the pool belonged to a fearsome lord, but Untombinde gathered her companions and set off all the same.
At the forbidden pool the girls bathed and laid their beads and ornaments on the bank. When they came out, the waters had swallowed their finery. One by one each maiden sang and begged the pool to return what was hers, and the water gave each her beads back. But when proud Untombinde sang, the pool kept her ornaments, and the monster rose and seized her, carrying her down into his domain.
Her companions fled home and told the king. He sent a great army, but Usilosimapundu, vast as a mountain range, swallowed warriors and cattle alike. At last it was a single brave young man, in many tellings a suitor or hero, who pursued the monster, cut it open, and freed not only Untombinde but all the people and beasts it had ever devoured, who came pouring out alive. Untombinde was restored to her father, wiser for her ordeal. Cosu cosu, iyaphela.
The lesson: Pride and defiance of wise counsel lead into danger; humility might have spared the maiden, and only courage and sacrifice could undo the harm her arrogance caused.