Malikophu’s Daughter by Noplani Gxavu

Malikophu’s Daughter, by Noplani Gxavu, is a story enumerating the puberty rites of passage of a Xhosa boy named Gxam. Through a tale filled with fantastic images, the storyteller mirrors many of the real life changes that are made by Xhosa boys during their transitions into young men. These fantasy characters and images are molded by Gxavu into intricate metaphors for the psychological developments necessary for becoming a man in the Xhosa culture. The crucial developments made by Gxam include new sight, new wisdom, and new birth. Certain images and episodes in the tale are also meant to relate some essential obligations of a man to his new bride, and vice versa, if the couple is to have a successful marriage. These obligations include trust, commitment, and a willingness to move on from one’s family and past life.

Gxam’s journey begins as a quest for work and marriage, but when his starving companions gouge out his eyes and steal his food, he is further separated and thus his ordeal begins. Two crows help him regain his eyesight, and a helpful bee sends him towards Malikophu’s house, where he will find his eventual wife. Along the way, he is greeted by three strangers with questions he cannot answer. Upon arriving at the house he is hidden from Malikophu in a cupboard by Malikophu’s wife, who takes pity on him. The wife then coerces her husband to sleep while she steals his four feathers, his greatest source of wealth, and gives them to Gxam. With the wife’s help, Gxam escapes with Malikophu’s youngest daughter, who steals her father’s magical horse and six magical eggs. Even as Malikophu pursues them, Gxam stops to reveal the answers to the questions of the three strangers he met previously. Eventually they continue, and Malikophu’s daughter uses the eggs to destroy her father. Upon returning to Gxam’s village, she gives him an interdiction not to touch anyone while she waits in a tree. He breaks the interdiction and as a result forgets about his bride to be. A few days later, he sees the girl and remembers what has happened. She forgives him and the two are wed, marking the end of the story.

The structure of this story is fairly common of puberty rite tales; with a separation, an ordeal, and a return. In this story, however, the different stages are not as clear cut as in other puberty rite stories. Gxam’s separation and ordeal occur virtuously simultaneously, as his eyes are destroyed by his friends. He is now incomplete, symbolizing the start of his ordeal. This scene can also be seen as part of his separation, however, as it represents a deviation from his plan to find work with his friends. The ordeal stage is where Gxam moves towards his manhood, completing tasks that bring him closer to completeness. I will discuss how episodes with the two crows, the bee, and Malikophu’s family reveal and facilitate the changes inside of Gxam as he moves through his ordeal stage. While this is undoubtedly a story of a boy’s puberty rites, I will also argue that it has many lessons about marriage, shown through latter episodes in the ordeal involving Malikophu, his daughter, and Gxam.

Gxam’s lack of vision symbolizes that he is incomplete, and thus begins his ordeal. The storyteller reveals that he is ripe for change, saying, “…it had been a long time since [he] had parted from his brains” (6). He cannot go on without sight and without food, and therefore needs to depend on the two crows he meets to help him regain his independence. These crows can talk, which tells us that they are fantasy and do not actually exist. They are a helpful animal motif mirroring exactly the role they play in the story: bringing Gxam’s new sight. In the story, the crows allow Gxam to regain sight, just as boys must have new sight in order to complete their puberty rites. They must be able to evaluate things from a new perspective in order to be adult members of society, and the crows metaphorically show this change by quite literally restoring Gxam’s vision. The manner in which Gxam’s sight is restored reveals another important part of the puberty rites: trust in one’s new vision. He is expected to perform the highly unlikable task of pouring urine in his eyes in order to be able to see again. Even though his new vision is foreign to him, as symbolized by the crows being strangers, he must put his faith in it. He must trust in the crows and in his new vision in order to continue his journey into adulthood.

Gxam’s relationship with the bee reveals another developing characteristic inside of him: his wisdom. Once again, we know the bee is a fantasy character as he can talk, and once again he is part of the common helpful animal motif. The bee giving Gxam helpful information about upcoming events symbolizes Gxam’s growing ability to evaluate situations and use previous information to act (put briefly, his wisdom). This