The young man walked back. Slowly he shuffled along, his shoulders drooping, his head down. As he entered the campsite, his father asked gently, “Where are the women?” The son only mumbled, “Everything was as you said. They just fluttered away.”

“And you would have killed me,” the father said. “Without one moment’s hesitation, you would have killed me. You definitely are not a son to live with in the bush.” In silence, they wrapped up their mats, the flour, and the bit of game they had taken. Without a word, they walked back to the village. Arriving there, the father explained to the villagers everything that had happened.

Seeing in the bush

Entering the bush increases the likelihood of such encounters with extraordinary beings. Like all Chokwe working there, the story’s hunter-father remains alert for wild animals and creatures, extraordinary beings, or lone travelers who likely hide manipulative powers. He knows that people with honest intentions work and journey in groups, both for protection and because they have no malevolent intentions.

As the story shows, when encountering an unknown person or creature, even a slight misjudgment makes a solitary traveler excessively vulnerable in the wilderness. One is safer in the company of others, say the Chokwe. But alone, the young son must discern whether the women are a sorcerer’s decoy or spirit allies or merely fellow travelers in the bush—just as they say they are. 

Extraordinary beings, appearing as humans or wild animals, can mystify even an experienced traveler and hunter such as this father. Momentarily at least, he is perplexed by these women who offer him food and sex—if only he will kill his son. He reflects on the circumstances and the proffered relationship and immediately senses that two women on an isolated path, without relatives to make arrangements, are not truly interested in “marrying” him. (Even in the village a woman does not directly propose marriage; rather, the man’s maternal uncle initiates discussions and the proper exchanges with the woman’s parents.) “And then,” he says to himself, “what kind of humans are they—telling me to kill a person in order to get married?”

His senses, informed by Chokwe proverbs and stories, tell him that these women are extraordinary beings or apparitions.