Under the Southern Cross. Short Stories from South Africa, by Herman Charles Bosman et al.

Under the Southern Cross. Short Stories from South Africa, by David Adey, Herman Charles Bosman et al.

Under the Southern Cross. Short Stories from South Africa, by David Adey, Herman Charles Bosman et al.

In the book Under the Southern Cross, a large number of authors have been selected, with the aim of producing a collection of short stories from South Africa as representative as possible.

Herman Charles Bosman  Olive Schreiner  Pauline Smith  Stuart Cloete  

Herman Charles Bosman: In the Withaaks's Shade

Leopards? - Oom Schalk Lourens said - Oh, yes, there are two varieties on this side of the Limpopo. The chief difference between them is that the one kind of leopard has got a few more spots on it than the other kind. But when you meet a leopard in the veld, unexpectedly, you seldom trouble to count his spots to find out what kind he belongs to. That is unnecessary. Because, whatever kind of leopard it is that you come across in this way, you only do one kind of running. And that is the fastest kind. I remember the occasion that I came across a leopard unexpectedly, and to this day I couldn't tell you how many spots he had, even though I had all the time I needed for studying him. It happened about mid-day, when I was out on the far end of my farm, behind a koppie, looking for some strayed cattle. I thought the cattle might be there because it is shady under those withaak trees, and there is soft grass that is very pleasant to sit on. After I had looked for the cattle for about an hour in this manner, sitting up against a tree-trunk, it occurred to me that I could look for them just as well, or perhaps even better, if I lay down flat. For even a child knows that cattle aren't so small that you have got to get on to stilts and things to see them properly. So I lay on my back, with my hat tilted over my face, and my legs crossed, and when I closed my eyes slightly the tip of my boot, sticking up into the air, looked just like the peak of Abjaterskop. Overhead a lonely aasvoel wheeled, circling slowly round and round without flapping his wings, and I knew that not even a calf could pass in any part of the sky between the top of my toe and that aasvoel without my observing it immediately. What was more, I could go on lying there under the withaak and looking for the cattle like that all day, if necessary. As you know, I am not the sort of farmer to loaf about the house when there is a man's work to be done. The more I screwed up my eyes and gazed at the toe of my boot, the more it, looked like Abjaterskop. By and by it seemed that it actually was Abjaterskop, and I could see the stones on top of it, and the bush trying to grow up its sides, and in my ears there was a far-off humming sound, like bees in an orchard on a still day. As I have said, it was very pleasant. Then a strange thing happened. It was as though a huge cloud, shaped like an animal's head and with spots on it, had settled on top of Abjaterskop. It seemed so funny that I wanted to laugh. But I didn't. Instead, I opened my eyes a little more and felt glad to think that I was only dreaming. Because otherwise I would have to believe that the spotted cloud on Abjaterskop was actually a leopard, and that he was gazing at my boot. Again I wanted to laugh. But then, suddenly, I knew. And I didn't feel so glad. For it was a leopard, all right - a large-sized, hungry-looking leopard, and he was sniffing suspiciously at my feet. I was uncomfortable. I knew that nothing I could do would ever convince that leopard that my toe was Abjaterskop. He was not that sort of leopard: I knew that without even counting the number of spots. Instead, having finished with my feet, he started sniffing higher up. It was the most terrifying moment of my life. [...]

This is an excerpt from the book: Under the Southern Cross. Under the Southern Cross. Short Stories from South Africa, by Herman Charles Bosman et al.

Title: Under the Southern Cross
Subtitle: Short Stories from South Africa
Editor: David Adey
Publisher: Ad. Donker; Delta House
Johannesburg; Cape Town, 1982
ISBN 0949937975 / ISBN 0-949937-97-5
Original hardcover, original dustjacket, 12x19 cm, 303 pages

Bosman, Herman Charles und Schreiner, Olive und Smith, Pauline im Namibiana-Buchangebot

Under the Southern Cross. Short Stories from South Africa

Under the Southern Cross. Short Stories from South Africa

Under the Southern Cross, an anthology of short stories, provides a wide-ranging introduction to South Africa.

Die kleine Karru. Südafrikanische Erzählungen

Die kleine Karru. Südafrikanische Erzählungen

Eine wunderbare Sammlung von zehn südafrikanischen Erzählungen aus der kleinen Karru.

Words in season

Words in season

Words in Season is a selection of Olive Schreiner's uncollected writings on key South African issues, supported by her own autobiographical pieces.

The story of an African farm

The story of an African farm

'The Story of an African Farm' was Olive Schreiner's international coming out as a author as early as 1883.

The story of an African farm

The story of an African farm

The story of an African farm is Olive Schreiner's famous autobiographical novel takes place in the remote Karoo at the end of the 19th century.

The Story of an African Farm

The Story of an African Farm

The novel The Story of an African Farm details the lives of three characters and inhabitants of a Karoo farm in South Africa in the 1880s.

Geschichte einer afrikanischen Farm

Geschichte einer afrikanischen Farm

Die Geschichte einer afrikanischen Farm in der südafrikanischen Karoo und ihrer Bewohner ist in diesem berühmten Roman beschrieben.

Mafeking Road und andere Erzählungen

Mafeking Road und andere Erzählungen

Mafeking Road und andere Erzählungen sind liebenswert schräge Kurzgeschichten aus der südafrikanischen Provinz, der nichts Menschliches fremd ist.