If chiefs have become unpopular by some whimsical or despotic orders, very soon the tongue of the women—of whom a Khoikhoi proverb says that "they cannot be as long quiet as it takes sweet milk to get sour"—will lecture him in a sarcastic reed song. Once I saw a chief sitting by, when the young girls sung into his face, telling him that he was a hungry hyena and a roguish jackal; that he was the brown vulture who is not only satisfied with tearing the flesh from the bones, but also feasts on the intestines. On another occasion, a very old man had married a very young girl, and her friends sung:

"The geiris (first wife) is dismissed, his only great thought is the !aris(second wife); or, as we should say, "Age does not prevent a man making a fool of himself."²

²Hahn, T.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 28–29 (K. Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. By permission).