'One of the hunters- his name was Tjenga- went of into the bush by himself one day. He found the footprint of a large antelope. It was the eland, the most beautiful of all the antelopes.
'But Tjenga's family was hungry. They needed fat and meat. So the followed the footprints of the eland all the way through the bush. He reached a small mountain. And suddenly there it was: a large eland, eating grass in the veld. Tjenga silently aimed his poisoned arrow at the eland's heart. The arrow flew through the air. Then the hunter lay down in the bush and waited for the animal to die.

'After some time, he walked to the eland. But all at once the animal changed into a human being. The hunter was deeply frightened. His heart felt uncomfortable, for he did not want to kill a person.

'Tjenga walked to his best friend and said to him "I am in big trouble. I shot and eland but when I came close to inspect it, it became a person. Please you must help me so that we can bury it before all the people see that I killed a person."

'"Listen," said the other, "I am your only friend. We eat together and do everything with each other, but I am not your real blood family. I do not want to see this death with you, because I don't want to get into trouble".

'Tjenga walked to his family's place and told them what happened. Together they went to inspect the hunter's kill. When they got there the person became an eland again. The people saw that Tjenga had shot an eland. They said to him "This is not a person you have killed. This is an animal. This is meat. Why do you think it is a person?"
The hunter and the family cut up the eland and carried it home. They made a fire and roasted the meat. It smelled very good. While the smell was in the wind, Tjenga's friend sent his son to him. "My father asked me to tell you that we do not have any meat to eat at home. Will you give us a piece of meat?"

'"No," replied Tjenga. "Tell your father that since he did not want to help me in my trouble, we are not friends any more. He must now go on his own and I will be on my own with my family."'

Story supplied from 'My Elands Heart' by Marlene Sullivan Winberg