The Punishment Of The Faithless One
The Punishment Of The Faithless One, a Matabele folk tale
Trumpeter Hornbills of southern Africa make their nests in hollow tree trunks but not everyone knows that once the hen has laid her eggs, her husband seals the entrance with clay.
He leaves only a small slit through which he can pass food, imprisoning the female until the young are old enough to be fledged. Then he breaks open the hole so she can help him feed their chicks.
The people of Matabeleland will tell you that the Hornbill cannot be blamed, for his wife richly deserves her imprisonment. It all started like this, they say – in the days of long, long ago...
The Hornbills used to build their nests in the treetops using twigs sewn together with hair from the tails of zebra and gnu. Inside, the nest was plastered with clay and lined with soft thistledown.
They were a happy couple; three fine eggs were the proof. Each day, Papa Hornbill sought the tastiest fruits in the forest so that his dear wife would never have to leave their precious eggs alone.
Finding her favorite fruits was not easy – the devoted husband had to search farther and farther away, day after day, which meant that the time he was gone from her grew longer and longer.
His dutiful wife doted on the eggs beneath her, gently caressing the smooth white shells with her beak. She dreamed of that precious moment when her young ones would break free from their shells.
But there was a wicked tempter abroad in the forest, in the form of a handsome Hornbill bachelor! All day long he called softly to her from the treetops, trying to lure her away from the nest.
At first she did not listen to this stranger but, as her husband was away for longer and longer, she began to think wistfully of the days when she used to enjoy happy flights over green forests.
Seeing her longing, the tempter increased his persuasion for her to join him. "Just one short flight with such a handsome companion!," she thought. "I will be back long before my husband returns."
You can imagine what followed: while Papa Hornbill searched the forest for fruits for his wife, she was flitting over the countryside with the bold bachelor. Day by day their joy flights grew longer.
One day, Papa Hornbill found a big Marula tree full of fruit nearby, that had somehow escaped the notice of his sharp eyes in the past. Therefore, he returned home much earlier than usual.
To his shock and dismay, he found their nest empty and the three precious eggs barely warm. "What could have happened?," he wondered. "Has some dreadful monster carried off my dear wife?"
At least he could try to save their babies with the warmth of his own body, and he settled down clumsily. He had been sitting on the eggs for only a few minutes when he heard laughter and merrymaking.
"That is a voice I know," he said to himself. Then his wife and the handsome bachelor flew into sight. The husband launched himself upon the intruder with rage and a ferocious battle ensued!
The wicked tempter was put to flight as he deserved. The faithless wife returned in disgrace to her nest but she had been away too long this time, and there was no warmth nor life in the eggs.
The guilty wife carefully hid this fact from Papa Hornbill as, week after week, she sat upon the lifeless eggs. When eventually no chicks hatched, her husband realized the dreadful truth.
He chased his wife from the nest, flung the eggs to the ground, and destroyed their lovely treetop home. Next, he looked for a hollow tree trunk and made his wife lay her next clutch of eggs inside.
When the last egg had been laid he cemented his faithless wife securely into the tree trunk, allowing only a small slit to remain open.
And that, so they say, is why to this very day the Trumpeter Hornbill imprisons his wife in their nest, only breaking away the plaster when their fledglings are ready to leave the nest.
(adapted, via Victoria Falls Guide)