The Snake with Seven Heads (Traditional African folktale)

Author: Gcina Mhlophe; Traditional African

Time Period: 1950 CE–2000 CE

Country or Culture: South Africa

Genre: Folktale

Overview

The “Snake with Seven Heads” is a South African folktale about a wife whose talent and courage save her husband from a frightening curse that transforms him into a seven-headed serpent. Originating among the Xhosa people of South Africa, the tale reflects the culture’s ambivalent perception of the snake as a life-giving, yet terrifying supernatural force. Author and storyteller Gcina Mhlophe (b. 1959) capitalized on this cultural ambivalence to craft a narrative full of suspense, pathos, and humor, which was included in Nelson Mandela’s anthology for children, Favorite African Folktales (2002).

In the story, Manjuza, a talented singer and dancer, is the wife of Mthiyane, who is often away on hunting expeditions. Manjuza is so renowned for her dancing that no wedding is considered sufficient without her performance. When an old woman requests that Manjuza dance for the wedding of a granddaughter, Manjuza must refuse because of a prior commitment. The old woman storms away angrily, threatening to cast a spell that will change Mthiyane into a monster. Sure enough, upon his return, he becomes a snake with seven heads. The horrified Manjuza hides him in a black pot in a storage hut before her children discover what has happened. That night, her grandmother appears in a dream and proclaims that she can break the spell by dancing at seven weddings, but she must maintain secrecy. The couple’s children grow increasingly curious about their father’s absence and repeatedly try to steal the key to the hut. On the day of the seventh wedding, Manjuza, in her anticipation of finally breaking the curse, forgets to lock the hut. When the children discover the snake and its talking heads, they flee in terror and beg the village people for help. The village women pour hot porridge on the snake just as Manjuza returns from dancing at the seventh wedding. To the astonishment of all, Mthiyane rises from the snake’s blistered skin, and the whole village celebrates the broken curse and the family’s reunion.

That night, Manjuza had a dream. Her grandmother appeared in her dream, telling her that all she had to do to break the curse was to dance at seven weddings. When she came back from the seventh wedding she would find her husband in the body he had had before the curse had been spoken. But it was very important to keep all this a secret, even from her own children.

“The Snake with Seven Heads”

“The Snake with Seven Heads” is clearly concerned with the power of women to both damage and preserve marriage and with the magical quality of the number seven. Less clear is the significance of these details, such as the precise meaning of the number and of the snake, which inspires great fear but has a gentle temperament. Moreover, the hot porridge is supposed to kill the snake but instead facilitates Mthiyane’s reemergence, and the prominent female characters suggest a rationale behind their role as key agents of the enchantment. A comparative analysis reveals that “The Snake with Seven Heads” belongs to a group of specifically South African Xhosa tales in which women must restore enchanted snake-men to human form through ritualized tests in which the snake implies danger but ultimately signals fertility and marriage. Comparison also demonstrates that the snake’s ambiguous portrayal in these stories contrasts with its more positive representations in other African regions. A comparative analysis thus helps to explain the story’s puzzling features and highlights its cultural distinctiveness within Africa. Such analysis further underscores the tale’s artistic achievement within its narrative class.

Summary

The story begins by introducing Manjuza and her talent in singing and dancing. Manjuza is so renowned for her dances that a wedding without her performance is regarded as “a wedding soon forgotten” (Mhlophe 66). Manjuza marries the hunting leader Mthiyane, who is well regarded, and the happy couple produces three children. As a hunter, Mthiyane frequently travels and misses his wife and children when he is away. One day when Mthiyane is gone on a hunting trip, an old woman visits to request that Manjuza dance at her granddaughter’s wedding. Unfortunately, Manjuza has already agreed to dance at another wedding on that day, but the old woman is persistent. She tries everything she can to persuade Manjuza to cancel the prior commitment and refuses to change the date of her granddaughter’s wedding so that Manjuza might accommodate both parties. Angry and spiteful, the old woman swears that she will curse Manjuza’s husband so that he becomes “an ugly monster” (67). The old woman then leaves Manjuza, who feels tired and dejected.

Manjuza and the children wait excitedly on the night of Mthiyane’s expected return, but he does not appear until near dawn the next day. When he arrives, he looks odd, with “shiny gray” eyes that flash “this way and that” (Mhlophe 67), a long tongue protruding from his mouth, and he is unable to speak. Horrified, Manjuza watches him metamorphose into a seven-headed snake. Wanting to hide the creature from her children, she quickly conceals it in a giant black pot in a storage hut, making sure to feed each of the seven heads before she leaves and locks the hut. She returns to the house and tells her children that their father has not yet arrived. That evening, after her children are asleep, she feeds the snake and returns to her house to “cry herself to sleep” (67). Help arrives, however, in the form of a dream in which her grandmother appears and declares that she can break her husband’s enchantment simply by dancing at seven weddings, but she must keep everything secret. As the days pass, the children are increasingly confused by their mother’s secretive behavior, her angry reactions to their questions about the locked hut, and their father’s extended absence. They begin to wonder whether he has died.

Meanwhile, Manjuza eagerly accepts invitations to dance at weddings and cares for the snake, always being careful to lock the hut. Her children become increasingly curious and try to steal the key to the hut, but their mother is careful and always takes it with her. When the day of the seventh wedding finally arrives, Manjuza is overjoyed but leaves the house angry after her children persist in their plans to steal the key. Once again, she is sure to take the key with her, but later in the day, the children discover that their mother has forgotten to lock the hut. The oldest son opens the door, and the children enter and discover the black pot. Lifting the lid, the oldest son sees the seven-headed snake, and the children flee in terror. The snake slithers out of its pot and down to the bank of a nearby river, where it rests in the sun. The children immediately tell their friends about the snake, and a group of children runs to find the creature.

When the snake sees the children standing before it, its heads begin a conversation in which the first head simply declares, “Here they stand,” and the second head asks, “What do they want?” (Mhlophe 69). The third head remarks that the children are “staring at us,” and the fourth explains, “I think they want to see our heads” (69). The fifth head then asks, “Why don’t they come closer?” to which the sixth head replies that the children are likely “scared of being bitten” (69). When the last head queries, “Can’t they be bitten where they stand?” (69), the children run home to tell their parents about the astonishing creature. A group of men then comes to witness the snake, and they stand “dumbstruck” (69) when the animal begins to talk. Not wishing to appear afraid, some of the men are reluctant to kill the snake because, they suggest, it might harbor their ancestors. They suggest a village meeting to discuss the problem, but the women dismiss the men’s fear and excuses and wish to kill the snake immediately for the safety of their children.

Ignoring their husbands’ protests, the women “would not listen to reason” (Mhlophe 70) and cook porridge, which they carry in pots on their heads down to the river. The snake’s heads chatter angrily as the women approach, but before it can act, the women pour the hot porridge on it, burning its skin. More villagers arrive to help, and they all break into song to celebrate their defeat of the many-headed snake. Returning from the seventh wedding, Manjuza hears the singing and realizes her husband has been killed. She begins to cry but then decides she must join the celebration until she can formulate a plan. Yet when she arrives, she sees her husband rising from the “blistered green skin” of the snake. His appearance silences the crowd as he moves forward to embrace his wife. The family reunites with tears and joy at the broken curse, and Manjuza sings and dances “more beautifully than she had ever sung and danced before, and the whole village rejoice[s] with her” (70).

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